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The History of Science as a Graveyard of Theories: A Philosophers’ Myth?

Mizrahi, Moti (2017) The History of Science as a Graveyard of Theories: A Philosophers’ Myth? [Preprint]

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Abstract

According to the antirealist argument known as the pessimistic induction, the history of science is a graveyard of dead scientific theories and abandoned theoretical posits. Support for this pessimistic picture of the history of science usually comes from a few case histories, such as the demise of the phlogiston theory and the abandonment of caloric as the substance of heat. In this paper, I wish to take a new approach to examining the “history of science as a graveyard of theories” picture. Using JSTOR Data for Research and Springer Exemplar, I present new lines of evidence that are at odds with this pessimistic picture of the history of science. When rigorously tested against the historical record of science, I submit, the pessimistic picture of the history of science as a graveyard of dead theories and abandoned posits may turn out to be no more than a philosophers’ myth.


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Item Type: Preprint
Creators:
CreatorsEmailORCID
Mizrahi, Motimotimizra@gmail.com
Keywords: antirealism; history of science; no-miracles argument; pessimistic induction; scientific realism
Subjects: General Issues > Realism/Anti-realism
Depositing User: Dr. Moti Mizrahi
Date Deposited: 12 Mar 2017 16:52
Last Modified: 12 Mar 2017 16:52
Item ID: 12897
Subjects: General Issues > Realism/Anti-realism
Date: 10 March 2017
URI: https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/12897

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