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Mechanism of Theory Acceptance (view source)
Revision as of 19:45, 2 March 2017
, 19:45, 2 March 2017no edit summary
The importance of novel predictions in theory acceptance was also stressed by [[Imre Lakatos]]. However, he believed that theories are not necessarily falsified by bad predictions. Rather, a theory's fate depends on its place in the research program. The more central a theory is to its research program, the more it can be saved by modifying auxiliary hypotheses.
The next significant development occurred when [[Thomas Kuhn]] suggested in [[Kuhn_(1962)]] that theory changes are paradigm shifts, where the world view of the entire scientific community changes. In his conception of theory change, the old and new theories are incommensurable.[[CiteRef::KuhnKuhn_(1962)]]
[[Paul Feyerabend]] argued in [[Feyerabend_(1975a)#_SCITE461b06a68d155a4ce7ad07ce0c937f01|Against Method]] that the methods of theory acceptance change over time in science. He argued that these changes were largely arbitrary. [[Dudley Shapere]] agreed that scientific methods change over time. In [[Shapere_(1980)#_SCITE8839fcd96a6f811c37c5f89c08f3d56d|The Character of Scientific Change]], Shapere argued that the scientific methods used at the time are affected by the beliefs the scientific community holds.
