Myrvold, Wayne C. (2019) “— It would be possible to do a lengthy dialectical number on this;”. [Preprint]

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Abstract

Philosophers have, it seems, been beguiled by contingencies of the evolution of scientific language. These contingencies can obscure the nature of theoretical shifts. Retention of a term can obscure a radical theoretical shift, and abandonment of a term can obscure continuity of theory. In this paper, I consider the cases of caloric and the
luminiferous ether, both of which are often taken to be unproblematic cases of theoretical entities abandoned by
subsequent theories. I invite the reader to consider what we now might be saying were those terms retained, and
argue that this sheds light on the nature of the theoretical shifts involved.

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Item Type:	Preprint
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID Myrvold, Wayne C. wmyrvold@uwo.ca
Keywords:	ether, caloric, scientific realism, structural realism
Subjects:	Specific Sciences > Chemistry Specific Sciences > Physics > Classical Physics Specific Sciences > Physics > Relativity Theory Specific Sciences > Physics > Statistical Mechanics/Thermodynamics
Depositing User:	Wayne Myrvold
Date Deposited:	02 Dec 2019 00:41
Last Modified:	02 Dec 2019 00:41
Item ID:	16675
Subjects:	Specific Sciences > Chemistry Specific Sciences > Physics > Classical Physics Specific Sciences > Physics > Relativity Theory Specific Sciences > Physics > Statistical Mechanics/Thermodynamics
Date:	November 2019
URI:	https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/16675

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