Article ID: CBB594548710

Underdetermination and Provability: A Reply to Olaf Müller (2017)

unapi

Newton claims to have proven the heterogeneity of light through his experimentum crucis. However, Olaf Müller has worked out in detail Goethe’s idea that one could likewise prove the heterogeneity of darkness by inverting Newton’s famous experiment. Müller concludes that this invalidates Newton’s claim of proof. Yet this conclusion only holds if the heterogeneity of light and the heterogeneity of darkness is logically incompatible. This paper shows that this is not the case. Instead, in Quine’s terms, we have two logically compatible theories based on mutually irreducible theoretical terms. From a Quinean point of view, this does no harm to the provability of the corresponding statements.

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Authors & Contributors
Steinle, Friedrich
Brown, James Robert
Harald Wiltsche
Geordie McComb
Mueller, Olaf L.
Fehige, Yiftach
Concepts
Experiments and experimentation
Thought experiments
Philosophy of science
Epistemology
Research methods
Physics
Time Periods
18th century
17th century
20th century
Medieval
19th century
Places
Germany
Europe
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