Skip to main content

The Rationality of Science

(From ‘Against Method’)

  • Chapter
Can Theories be Refuted?

Part of the book series: Synthese Library ((SYLI,volume 81))

  • 1175 Accesses

Abstract

Let us now use the material of the [earlier sections of ‘Against Method’] to throw light on the following features of contemporary empiricism: first, the distinction between a context of discovery and a context of justification; second, the distinction between observational terms and theoretical terms; third, the problem of incommensurability.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 189.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 249.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 249.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Notes

  1. Papirer, ed. by P. A. Heiberg (Copenhagen, 1909), VII, Part I, see A, No. 182. Cf. also Sections 7ff of my forthcoming paper ‘Abriss einer anarchistischen Erkenntnislehre’.

    Google Scholar 

  2. This seems to occur in certain versions of the general theory of relativity. Cf. A. Einstein, L. Infeld, and B. Hoffmann, ‘The Gravitational Equations and the Problem of Motion’, Annals of Mathematics 39 (1938), 65, and Sen, Fields andjor Particles, pp. 19ff.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. This seems to occur in certain versions of the general theory of relativity. Cf. A. Einstein, L. Infeld, and B. Hoffmann, ‘The Gravitational Equations and the Problem of Motion’, Annals of Mathematics 39 (1938), 65, and Sen, Fields andjor Particles, pp. 19ff.

    Google Scholar 

  4. For this point and further arguments see A. S. Eddington, The Mathematical Theory of Relativity, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1963, p. 33. The more general problem of concepts and numbers has been treated by Hegel, Logik, I, Das Mass.

    Google Scholar 

  5. R. Carnap, ‘The Methodological Character of Theoretical Concepts’, Minnesota Studies in the Philosophy of Science, Vol. I, ed. by H. Feigl and M. Scriven ( University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, 1956 ), p. 47.

    Google Scholar 

  6. As an example the reader is invited to consult J. Piaget, The Construction of Reality in the Child, Basic Books, New York, 1954.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  7. Ibid., pp. 5ff.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  8. Carnap, ‘The Methodological Character of Theoretical Concepts’, p. 40. Cf. also C. G. Hempel, Philosophy of Natural Science, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1966, pp. 74ff.

    Google Scholar 

  9. Carnap, ‘The Methodological Character of Theoretical Concepts’, p. 40. Cf. also C. G. Hempel, Philosophy of Natural Science, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1966, pp. 74ff.

    Google Scholar 

  10. Cf. B. Brecht, ‘Ueber das Zerpfluecken von Gedichten’, Über Lyrik (Suhrkamp, Frankfurt, 1964 ). In my lectures on the theory of knowledge I usually present and discuss the thesis that finding a new theory for given facts is exactly like finding a new production for a well-known play. For painting see also E. Gombrich, Art and Illusion ( Pantheon, New York, 1960 ).

    Google Scholar 

  11. Cf. B. Brecht, ‘Ueber das Zerpfluecken von Gedichten’, Über Lyrik (Suhrkamp, Frankfurt, 1964 ). In my lectures on the theory of knowledge I usually present and discuss the thesis that finding a new theory for given facts is exactly like finding a new production for a well-known play. For painting see also E. Gombrich, Art and Illusion ( Pantheon, New York, 1960 ).

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Authors

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 1976 D. Reidel Publishing Company, Dordrecht, Holland

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Feyerabend, P.K. (1976). The Rationality of Science. In: Harding, S.G. (eds) Can Theories be Refuted?. Synthese Library, vol 81. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-010-1863-0_16

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-010-1863-0_16

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-90-277-0630-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-010-1863-0

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

Publish with us

Policies and ethics