Fasol, Samuele (2026) A Fourfold Classification of Scientific Principles. In: UNSPECIFIED.

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Abstract

Recent analyses of scientific principles often collapse them into a single category. This paper develops a pluralist classification of scientific assumptions by revisiting two classical sources that inform contemporary discussions: Kant’s system of principles and the 1920 debate on the a priori in science. A brief exploration of these sources yields two distinctions: theory-independent vs. theory-dependent assumptions and concept- vs. object-constitutive principles. Combining them produces a fourfold classification—constitutive, methodological, ontological, and physical assumptions—that offers an alternative to the monistic tendencies of contemporary accounts.

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Item Type:	Conference or Workshop Item (UNSPECIFIED)
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID Fasol, Samuele samuele.fasol@gmail.com 0009-0001-4940-081X
Keywords:	principle; constitutive; Kant; Friedman; a priori.
Subjects:	General Issues > Conventionalism General Issues > History of Philosophy of Science General Issues > Logical Positivism/Logical Empiricism Specific Sciences > Physics General Issues > Structure of Theories
Depositing User:	Samuele Fasol
Date Deposited:	04 Jun 2026 14:03
Last Modified:	04 Jun 2026 14:03
Item ID:	29915
Subjects:	General Issues > Conventionalism General Issues > History of Philosophy of Science General Issues > Logical Positivism/Logical Empiricism Specific Sciences > Physics General Issues > Structure of Theories
Date:	3 June 2026
URI:	https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/29915

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