Article ID: CBB000850418

Genuine Possibilities in the Scientific Past and How to Spot Them (2008)

unapi

French, Steven (Author)


Isis: International Review Devoted to the History of Science and Its Cultural Influences
Volume: 99
Pages: 568--575


Publication Date: 2008
Edition Details: Part of Focus Section “Counterfactuals and the Historian of Science”
Language: English

The extent to which we take counterfactual history seriously depends on how well grounded we take the relevant possibilities to be. Beginning with a general consideration of the relationship between conceivability and possibility, this essay examine the grounds on which these alternative histories might be based. Drawing on examples from physics, such as the Bohmian version of quantum theory and the parastatistics approach to quarks, it suggests that such grounds are not as firm as might be thought and that further work is required in both the history and the philosophy of science before the putative alternatives can be taken as genuine possibilities.

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Description Draws on examples from physics, such as Bohmian quantum theory and the parastatistics approach to quarks.


Included in

Article Radick, Gregory (2008) Introduction: Why What If?. Isis: International Review Devoted to the History of Science and Its Cultural Influences (p. 547). unapi

Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB000850418/

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Authors & Contributors
Drago, Antonino
Greco, Pietro
Healey, Richard A.
Zhang, Feng
Taylor, Philip L.
Stuewer, Roger H.
Concepts
Theoretical physics
Physics
Quantum mechanics
Mathematics
Philosophy of science
Atomic, nuclear, and particle physics
Time Periods
20th century
21st century
Institutions
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MIT
Case Western Reserve University
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