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Underdetermination in Geophysics

Miyake, Teru (2010) Underdetermination in Geophysics. In: UNSPECIFIED.

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Abstract

This paper examines the epistemological implications of a particular underdetermination problem from geophysics, with an emphasis on understanding how the scientists themselves tried to deal with the problem. The problem is from the highly influential work of the geophysicists Backus and Gilbert in the late 60’s, who were trying to determine the internal structure of the Earth using seismic waves. I find that actual underdetermination problems can be vastly complex, with different sources of underdetermination having different epistemological implications. A better understanding of actual cases of underdetermination is needed before we can make epistemological conclusions based on underdetermination.


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Item Type: Conference or Workshop Item (UNSPECIFIED)
Creators:
CreatorsEmailORCID
Miyake, Terumiyake@stanford.edu
Keywords: underdetermination, geophysics, physics
Subjects: General Issues > Confirmation/Induction
Specific Sciences > Earth Sciences
General Issues > History of Science Case Studies
General Issues > Theory/Observation
Depositing User: Mr. Teru Miyake
Date Deposited: 09 Nov 2010 13:44
Last Modified: 09 Nov 2010 13:44
Item ID: 8387
Subjects: General Issues > Confirmation/Induction
Specific Sciences > Earth Sciences
General Issues > History of Science Case Studies
General Issues > Theory/Observation
Date: 8 November 2010
URI: https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/8387

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