IMRE LAKATOS AND THEORIES OF SCIENTIFIC CHANGE

Transcription

1 IMRE LAKATOS AND THEORIES OF SCIENTIFIC CHANGE

2 BOSTON STUDIES IN THE PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE Editor ROBERT S. COHEN, Boston University Editorial Advisory Board ADOLF GRONBAUM, University of Pittsburgh SYL V AN S. SCHWEBER, Brandeis University JOHN J. ST ACHEL, Boston University MARX W. WARTOFSKY, Baruch College of the City University of New York VOLUME 111

3 IMRE LAKA TOS AND THEORIES OF SCIENTIFIC CHANGE Edited by KOSTAS GA VROGL U National Technical University of Athens YORGOS GOUDAROULIS Aristotle University of Thessaloniki PANTELIS NICOLACOPOULOS National Technical University of Athens KLUWER ACADEMIC PUBLISHERS DORDRECHT IBOSTON/LONDON

4 Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Imre Lakatos and theories of scientific change. (Boston studies in the philosophy of science; v. lll) Contributions from the International Conference in Thessaloniki, Greece, in August, Includes index. 1. Science-Philosophy-Congresses. 2. Science Methodology-Congresses. 3. Physics-Methodology Congresses. 4. Knowledge, Theory of-congresses. 5. Lakatos, Imre. 6. Popper, Karl Raimund, Sir, I. Nicolacopoulos,Pantelis,1952- II. Gavroglu, Kostas. III. Goudaroulis, Yorgos. IV. International Conference in Epistemology (1986: Thessalonike, Greece) V. Series. Q174.B67 vol. iii 001 '.01 s [501J ISBN-13: e-isbn-13: DOl: / Published by Kluwer Academic Publishers, P. O. Box 17, 3300 AA Dordrecht, The Netherlands. Kluwer Academic Publishers incorporates the publishing programmes of D. Reidel, Martinus Nijhoff, Dr W. Junk and MTP Press. Sold and distributed in the U.S.A. and Canada by Kluwer Academic Publishers, 101 Philip Drive, Norwell, MA 02061, U.S.A. In all other countries, sold and distributed by Kluwer Academic Publishers Group, P.O. Box 322, 3300 AH Dordrecht, The Netherlands. This book has been printed on acid-free paper. All Rights Reserved 1989 by Kluwer Academic Publishers No part of the material protected by this copyright notice may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the copyright owners.

5 TABLE OF CONTENTS Editorial Preface Introduction VIII IX PART I JOHN WATKINS I The Methodology of Scientific Research Programmes: A Retrospect 3 ALAN MUSGRAVE I Deductive Heuristics 15 HERBERT HORZ I Development of Science as a Change of Types 33 J. J. C. SMART I Methodology and Ontology 47 FAN DAINIAN I Imre Lakatos in China 59 RISTO HILPINEN IOn the Characterization of Cognitive Progress 69 PART II MARCELLO CINI I Continuity and Discontinuity in the Definition of a Disciplinary Field: The Case of XXth Century Physics 83 PETER CLARK I Determinism, Probability and Randomness in Classical Statistical Physics 95 C. ULISES MOULINEs/TheEmergenceofaResearch Programme in Classical Thermodynamics 111 KOSTAS GA VROGL U I The Methodology of Scientific Research Programmes and Some Developments in High Energy Physics 123 YORGOS GOUDAROULIS I Many-Particle Physics: Calculational Complications that Become a Blessing for Methodology 135 v

6 VI CONTENTS T. M. CHRISTIDES AND M. MIKOU I The Relative Autonomy of Theoretical Science and the Role of Crucial Experiments in the Development of Superconductivity Theory 147 PART III NIKOLAOS A VGELIS I Lakatos on the Evaluation of Scientific Theories 157 MARCELLO PERA I Methodological Sophisticationism: A Degenerating Project 169 PANTELIS D. NICOLACOPOULOS I Through the Looking Glass: Philosophy, Research Programmes and the Scientific Community 189 EMILIO METAXOPOULOS I A Critical Consideration of the Lakatosian Concepts: "Mature" and "Immature" Science 203 ULRICH GAHDE I Bridge Structures and the Borderline Between the Internal and External History of Science 215 PART IV ILKKA NIINILUOTO I Corroboration, Verisimilitude, and the Success of Science 229 JOSEPH D. SNEED I Machine Models for the Growth of Knowledge: Theory Nets in PROLOG 245 ARISTIDES BAL T AS I Louis Althusser and Joseph D. Sneed: A Strange Encounter in Philosophy of Science? 269 w. BALzER/OnIncommensurability 287 GRAHAM ODD IE I Partial Interpretation, Meaning Variance, and Incommensurability 305 NANCY J. NERSESSIAN I Scientific Discovery and Commensurability of Meaning 323 PART V D. A. ANAPOLIT ANOS I Proofs and Refutations: A Reassessment V. RANTALA ICounterfactual Reduction

7 CONTENTS VII ARIS KOUTOUGOS I Research Programmes and Paradigms as Dialogue Structures 361 PETER KROES I Philosophy of Science and the Technological Dimension of Science 375 GERARD RADNITZKY I Falsificationism Looked at from an "Economic" Point of View 383 PART VI PETER URBACH I The Bayesian Alternative to the Methodology of Scientific Research Programmes 399 G. CURRIE I Frege and Popper: Two Critics of Psychologism 413 DAVID PAPINEAU I Has Popper Been a Good Thing? 431 D. SFENDONI -MENTZOU I Popper's Propensities: An Ontological Interpretation of Probability 441 Index 457

8 EDITORIAL PREFACE How happy it is to recall Imre Lakatos. Now, fifteen years after his death, his intelligence, wit, generosity are vivid. In the Preface to the book of Essays in Memory of Imre Lakatos (Boston Studies, 39, 1976), the editors wrote:... Lakatos was a man in search of rationality in all of its forms. He thought he had found it in the historical development of scientific knowledge, yet he also saw rationality endangered everywhere. To honor Lakatos is to honor his sharp and aggressive criticism as well as his humane warmth and his quick wit. He was a person to love and to struggle with. The book before us carries old and new friends of that Lakatosian spirit further into the issues which he wanted to investigate. That the new friends include a dozen scientific, historical and philosophical scholars from Greece would have pleased Lakatos very much, and with an essay from China, he would have smiled all the more. But the key lies in the quality of these papers, and in the imaginative organization of the conference at Thessaloniki in summer 1986 which worked so well. June 1988 ROBERT S. COHEN VIII

9 INTRODUCTION The stimulus for the papers in the present volume was an International Conference in Epistemology held in Thessaloniki, Greece in August 1986; its title was 'Criticism and the Growth of Knowledge: Twenty Years After', and it was dedicated to the memory of Imre Lakatos. It is already suggested in the title of the conference that among its aims was the critical appraisal of the developments in the philosophy of science in the twenty years that had passed since the very important 1965 London Conference which resulted, among other significant and far reaching accomplishments, in the volume Criticism and the Growth of Knowledge, edited by Imre Lakatos and Alan Musgrave. The evaluation of some of the programmatic statements articulated at the London Conference, and of Lakatos's particular contribution to the philosophy of science, were two of the focal points for examination and discussion in Thessaloniki. But in addition, a number of new theses and programmes indicative of the current progress in the philosophy and history of science as well as in the theory of knowledge (the various branches of the discipline that the term 'epistemology' may be taken to refer to) were presented, and quite a few fresh ideas were brought up and discussed. The conference also signified the recently emerging situation of the philosophy and history of science in Greece. There is now a growing - even if only slowly growing - number of philosophers, scientists and historians who actively participate in the development of a complex discipline through work inspired by the modem, indeed the current, trends in the field. Given the opportunity of exchange and interaction with the contemporary problematique of the international community of the philosophy of science, this work would contribute to the understanding and the resolution of the issues involved. It has been argued that, slowly but surely, there is a realization on the part of philosophers in Greece that the heritage of the ancients cannot by itself sustain all that is significant and productive in philosophical thought in the current complex process of modernization of Greek society, the pace of which has been accelerated in the last fifteen years when, among other things, Greece has been faced with the task of becoming a full member of the EEC. So, as scholarship in many IX

10 x INTRODUCTION branches of knowledge has defined the key issues and expressed the dominant trends of the various disciplines, creating new specialities but also emphasizing interdisciplinary collaboration, the Greek university is currently establishing new units and branches, similar to the ones that were first formed and tested in some of the leading academic and scientific centers of the world in the sixties. It is hoped that the conference of Thessaloniki demonstrated the progress of epistemology in Greece and that it contributed to the further development of the field. Towards that purpose, a project to publish a volume of current studies in the philosophy and history of the sciences by Greek scholars is under way. But back to the present volume. The papers included in it are diverse in topic and approach, reflecting the aims of the occasion that led to them, although, of course, most of them are re-worked versions of the original presentations. The diversity of topics provides the reader with a fairly thorough picture of the current interests and theories of the philosophy of science, as well as of the developments and achievements in the last two decades. The diversity of approaches, which indeed represent quite a few nations, academic centres and schools of thought spread over four continents, gives a good idea of the different evaluations of the aims, scope and progress of the discipline, but also shows that, despite the differences, there exists a community in this field. Philosophy, after all, grows through differences and arguments supporting opposite theses, and science does not stop with a discovery or a theory agreed upon. We have grouped the papers of this volume on the basis of thematic interest and topic; thus, the volume is divided into six parts. However, we avoided giving titles to the parts lest we be unfair to some of the papers, since significant differences remain within each group. Part I consists of papers that, on the one hand, address some of the basic issues underlying this volume, especially with respect to the work of Lakatos, and that, on the other hand, reflect the different backgrounds and approaches of authors and theories stemming from a variety of countries and contexts. The first two papers, by John Watkins and Alan Musgrave, were the opening papers of the Thessaloniki Conference. Part II consists of casestudies that, to some extent, critically employ the work of Lakatos to deal with the philosophy and history of physics. Part III consists of papers aiming at a critical appraisal of some key notions of Lakatos's philosophy and at an evaluation of the role of philosophy of science. The papers in Part IV deal more specifically with the problems of the structure and incommensurability of scientific theories and of the growth and success of

11 INTRODUCTION XI science. The papers in Part V have a thematic diversity, and they aim at the extension of the scope and application of the philosophy of science, or conversely at the enrichment of the philosophy of science with methods and ideas coming from other domains. Finally, the papers in Part VI deal more specifically with the work of Karl Popper. This volume is dedicated to the memory of Imre Lakatos. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We would like to thank our colleagues at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and the National Technical University of Athens N. Avgelis, A. Baltas, T. Christides and A. Koutougos, with whom we collaborated in the organizing of the 1986 Thessaloniki Conference, for their cooperation through all the stages of this project. We also extend our thanks to our students Ch. Bala, M. Giamalidou, V. Kindi and C. Laurent, and to D. Koutougou and M. Mikou for their assistance. And we wish to acknowledge the generous support of the Latsis Foundation and especially thank Dr. Spiro J. Latsis. KOSTAS GAVROGLU Y ORGOS GOUDAROULIS PANTELIS NICOLACOPOULOS