Miraculous Success? Inconsistency and Untruth in Kirchhoff’s Diffraction Theory.
Kirchhoff’s diffraction theory is introduced as a new case study in the realism debate. The theory is extremely successful despite being both inconsistent and not even approximately true. Some habitual realist proclamations simply cannot be maintained in the face of Kirchhoff’s theory, as the realis...
| Publicado en: | British Journal for the Philosophy of Science Vol. 62; no. 1; pp. 29 - 47 |
|---|---|
| Autores principales: | , |
| Formato: | Artículo |
| Publicado: |
University of Chicago Press
Mar2011
|
| Materias: | |
| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| Sumario: | Kirchhoff’s diffraction theory is introduced as a new case study in the realism debate. The theory is extremely successful despite being both inconsistent and not even approximately true. Some habitual realist proclamations simply cannot be maintained in the face of Kirchhoff’s theory, as the realist is forced to acknowledge that theoretical success can in some circumstances be explained in terms other than truth. The idiosyncrasy (or otherwise) of Kirchhoff’s case is considered. 1 Introduction2 The Naïve Optimist3 Kirchhoff’s Theory4 Inconsistency and Untruth in Kirchhoff’s Theory 4.1 The inconsistency puzzle4.2 The error-tolerance puzzle5 Ramifications for Realism6 Conclusion |
|---|