Theory choice

Short description: Problem in the philosophy of science

Theory choice was a main problem in the philosophy of science in the early 20th century, and under the impact of the new and controversial theories of relativity and quantum physics, came to involve how scientists should choose between competing theories.

The classical answer would be to select the theory which was best verified, against which Karl Popper argued that competing theories should be subjected to comparative tests and the one chosen which survived the tests. If two theories could not, for practical reasons, be tested one should prefer the one with the highest degree of empirical content, said Popper in The Logic of Scientific Discovery.

Mathematician and physicist Henri Poincaré instead, like many others, proposed simplicity as a criterion.[1] One should choose the mathematically simplest or most elegant approach. Many have sympathized with this view, but the problem is that the idea of simplicity is highly intuitive and even personal, and that no one has managed to formulate it in precise and acceptable terms.

Popper's solution was subsequently criticized by Thomas S. Kuhn in The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. He denied that competing theories (or paradigms) could be compared in the way that Popper had claimed, and substituted instead what can be briefly described as pragmatic success. This led to an intense discussion with Imre Lakatos and Paul Feyerabend the best known participants.

The discussion has continued, but no general and uncontroversial solution to the problem of formulating objective criteria to decide which is the best theory has so far been formulated. The main criteria usually proposed are to choose the theory which provides the best (and novel) predictions, the one with the highest explanatory potential, the one which offers better problems or the most elegant and simple one. Alternatively a theory may be preferable if it is better integrated into the rest of contemporary knowledge.

1. ↑ Keuzenkamp, Hugo A.; McAleer, Michael (1 January 1995). "Simplicity, Scientific Inference and Econometric Modelling". The Economic Journal 105 (428): 1–21. doi:10.2307/2235317. https://pure.uvt.nl/ws/files/1145122/HAKMMA5617474.pdf.

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Philosophy of science

| Concepts|

* Analysis
* Analytic–synthetic distinction
* A priori and a posteriori
* Causality
* Commensurability
* Consilience
* Construct
* Creative synthesis
* Demarcation problem
* Empirical evidence
* Explanatory power
* Fact
* Falsifiability
* Feminist method
* Functional contextualism

* Ignoramus et ignorabimus
* Inductive reasoning
* Intertheoretic reduction
* Inquiry
* Nature
* Objectivity
* Observation
* Paradigm
* Problem of induction
* Scientific law
* Scientific method
* Scientific revolution
* Scientific theory
* Testability
* Theory choice
* Theory-ladenness
* Underdetermination
* Unity of science

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Metatheory
of science|

* Coherentism
* Confirmation holism
* Constructive empiricism
* Constructive realism
* Constructivist epistemology
* Contextualism
* Conventionalism
* Deductive-nomological model
* Hypothetico-deductive model
* Inductionism
* Epistemological anarchism
* Evolutionism
* Fallibilism
* Foundationalism
* Instrumentalism
* Pragmatism
* Model-dependent realism
* Naturalism
* Physicalism
* Positivism / Reductionism / Determinism
* Rationalism / Empiricism
* Received view / Semantic view of theories
* Scientific realism / Anti-realism
* Scientific essentialism
* Scientific formalism
* Scientific skepticism
* Scientism
* Structuralism
* Uniformitarianism
* Vitalism

Philosophy of|

* Physics
* thermal and statistical
* Motion
* Chemistry
* Biology
* Environment
* Geography
* Social science
* Technology
* Engineering
* Artificial intelligence
* Computer science
* Information
* Mind
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* Psychology
* Perception
* Space and time

Related topics|

* Alchemy
* Criticism of science
* Epistemology
* Faith and rationality
* History and philosophy of science
* History of science
* History of evolutionary thought
* Logic
* Metaphysics
* Pseudoscience
* Relationship between religion and science
* Rhetoric of science
* Science studies
* Sociology of scientific knowledge
* Sociology of scientific ignorance

Philosophers of science by era

| Ancient|

* Plato
* Aristotle
* Stoicism
* Epicureans

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Medieval|

* Averroes
* Avicenna
* Roger Bacon
* William of Ockham
* Hugh of Saint Victor
* Dominicus Gundissalinus
* Robert Kilwardby

Early modern|

* Francis Bacon
* Thomas Hobbes
* René Descartes
* Galileo Galilei
* Pierre Gassendi
* Isaac Newton
* David Hume

Late modern|

* Immanuel Kant
* Friedrich Schelling
* William Whewell
* Auguste Comte
* John Stuart Mill
* Herbert Spencer
* Wilhelm Wundt
* Charles Sanders Peirce
* Wilhelm Windelband
* Henri Poincaré
* Pierre Duhem
* Rudolf Steiner
* Karl Pearson

Contemporary|

* Alfred North Whitehead
* Bertrand Russell
* Albert Einstein
* Otto Neurath
* C. D. Broad
* Michael Polanyi
* Hans Reichenbach
* Rudolf Carnap
* Karl Popper
* Carl Gustav Hempel
* W. V. O. Quine
* Thomas Kuhn
* Imre Lakatos
* Paul Feyerabend
* Jürgen Habermas
* Ian Hacking
* Bas van Fraassen
* Larry Laudan
* Daniel Dennett

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