Peter Achinstein
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780195143898
- eISBN:
- 9780199833023
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195143892.003.0011
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Science
Evidential holism, espoused by Pierre Duhem and W.V. Quine, is the view that nothing can be evidence for or against an isolated hypothesis, but only for or against some group of hypotheses. The ...
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Evidential holism, espoused by Pierre Duhem and W.V. Quine, is the view that nothing can be evidence for or against an isolated hypothesis, but only for or against some group of hypotheses. The arguments of Duhem and Quine are examined and rejected. Another version of holism (”new‐age”), which requires that evidence for a hypothesis always be relativized to a set of hypotheses, is then critically evaluated using the concept of potential evidence.Less
Evidential holism, espoused by Pierre Duhem and W.V. Quine, is the view that nothing can be evidence for or against an isolated hypothesis, but only for or against some group of hypotheses. The arguments of Duhem and Quine are examined and rejected. Another version of holism (”new‐age”), which requires that evidence for a hypothesis always be relativized to a set of hypotheses, is then critically evaluated using the concept of potential evidence.
Peter Achinstein
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- December 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780190615055
- eISBN:
- 9780190615086
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190615055.003.0004
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Science, General
Evidential holism is the view that individual hypotheses do not receive evidential support, only entire theoretical systems do. Evidential particularism is the view that within a theoretical system ...
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Evidential holism is the view that individual hypotheses do not receive evidential support, only entire theoretical systems do. Evidential particularism is the view that within a theoretical system each hypothesis can and must receive evidential support for the system to be established. Both views are examined, the former as expressed by Whewell, the latter as expressed by Mill. Although each view is different, both adopt an “either/or” attitude toward theory evaluation: either you prove the whole theory, or it remains a speculation. In this chapter, the holist viewpoint is seriously challenged and a form of particularism is defended. However, the “either/or” attitude of both views is rejected in favor of a more nuanced, contextually based method of theory evaluation.Less
Evidential holism is the view that individual hypotheses do not receive evidential support, only entire theoretical systems do. Evidential particularism is the view that within a theoretical system each hypothesis can and must receive evidential support for the system to be established. Both views are examined, the former as expressed by Whewell, the latter as expressed by Mill. Although each view is different, both adopt an “either/or” attitude toward theory evaluation: either you prove the whole theory, or it remains a speculation. In this chapter, the holist viewpoint is seriously challenged and a form of particularism is defended. However, the “either/or” attitude of both views is rejected in favor of a more nuanced, contextually based method of theory evaluation.
