Thursday, June 21, 2018

Scientific Revolutions #7

In The Rationality of Science W. H. Newton-Smith calls Thomas Kuhn a non-realist (ref. #6) because Kuhn's model of science makes problem solving the goal rather than the pursuit of truth. He says Kuhn doesn't make truthfulness the main goal of science because it cannot be given a rational justification. In other words, there is no algorithm for choosing which of two competing theories is better in all such comparisons. His exact words follow.

"Thus the use of models for the explanation of change is not the exclusive prerogative of the rationalist. Kuhn, for example, has a model of science which makes the goal problem solving and in which the principles of comparison are the five ways [ref. #5]. What makes Kuhn a non-rationalist is his thesis that these cannot be given an objective justification. This in no way precludes his using his model in generating minirat [*] accounts, a good example of which is found in his recent study of Planck. In this work, in which, interestingly, Kuhn does not make any use of his own theoretical framework of gestalt shifts between incommensurable paradigms, he explains why Planck opted for his distribution law for the radiation given off by a black body through a reconstruction of Plank's beliefs and reasoning processes. One example of a general methodological belief would cite as explaining the scientific community's acceptance of Planck's theory is the belief in the importance of theoretical unification. This, in part, motivated the community to prefer to use Planck's single formula which covers all temperatures instead of Wien's formula for low temperatures and the Rawleigh-Jeans law for high temperatures. ... This means that a rational representation of science should consist not of a single model but an evolving series of models " (p. 224-5). 

* minimal rational account -- an explanation of theory choice which does not include a normative assessment of the goal, or an evaluation of the truth or falsity, or the reasonableness or unreasonableness of the beliefs. 

I see no sharp difference between Newton-Smith's use of real and rational (and their conjugates).

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