Article ID: CBB415413095

Poincaré’s Impact on Twentieth-Century Philosophy of Science (2016)

unapi

Poincaré’s conventionalism has thoroughly transformed both the philosophy of science and the philosophy of mathematics. In the former it gave rise to new insights into the complexities of scientific method, in the latter to a new account of the nature of (so-called) necessary truth. Not only proponents of conventionalism, such as the logical positivists, were influenced by Poincaré, but also outspoken critics of conventionalism, such as Quine, Putnam, and (as I will argue) Wittgenstein, were deeply inspired by conventionalist ideas. Indeed, during the twentieth century, most philosophers of science and mathematics engaged in dialogue with conventionalism. As is often the case with complex ideas, there is no consensus about the meaning of conventionalism in general and Poincaré’s original version of it in particular. Nonetheless, notions such as underdetermination (of theory), empirical equivalence (of incompatible theories), implicit definition, holism, and conceptual relativity, all of which can be linked to Poincaré’s writings, have become central to philosophy. In tracing the flow of Poincaré’s ideas through the philosophical space of the twentieth century, this article emphasizes not only the stimulus provided by his actual views but also the effects of misreading and unjustified appropriation.

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Authors & Contributors
Rollet, Laurent
Heinzmann, Gerhard
DiSalle, Robert
Augusto J. Franco Oliveira
Isabel Serra

Concepts
Philosophy of science
Philosophy of science, as a discipline
Philosophy of mathematics
Biographies
Philosophy
Epistemology
Time Periods
20th century, early
19th century
20th century
18th century
Places
France
Germany
Berlin (Germany)
Europe
Institutions
Berlin Group (Philosophy)
Vienna Circle
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