Corroboration and auxiliary hypotheses : Duhem's thesis revisited

Document Type

Journal article

Source Publication

Synthese

Publication Date

11-1-2010

Volume

177

Issue

1

First Page

139

Last Page

149

Keywords

Corroboration, Falsificationism, Duhem's thesis, Quine-Duhem thesis, Confirmation, Popper

Abstract

This paper argues that Duhem’s thesis does not decisively refute a corroboration-based account of scientific methodology (or ‘falsificationism’), but instead that auxiliary hypotheses are themselves subject to measurements of corroboration which can be used to inform practice. It argues that a corroboration-based account is equal to the popular Bayesian alternative, which has received much more recent attention, in this respect.

DOI

10.1007/s11229-009-9643-4

Print ISSN

00397857

E-ISSN

15730964

Publisher Statement

Copyright © Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2009

Access to external full text or publisher's version may require subscription.

Full-text Version

Publisher’s Version

Language

English

Recommended Citation

Rowbottom, D. P. (2010). Corroboration and auxiliary hypotheses: Duhem's thesis revisited. Synthese, 177(1), 139-149. doi: 10.1007/s11229-009-9643-4

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