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A combined approach to the dynamics of theories: How to improve historical interpretations of theory change by applying set theoretical structures by Wolfgang Stegmüller is a Decision Sciences article available to read on EtoBox.
What is A combined approach to the dynamics of theories: How to improve historical interpretations of theory change by applying set theoretical structures about?
Although this article is self-contained, the ideas developed herein continue the discussions in the author's book The Structure and Dynamies of Theories (New York 1976). In an introductory section, a brief description is given of the structuralistic or non-statemental view of theories. Physical theories are introduced as nets of ordered pairs, each pair consisting of a sequence of mathematical structures and a class of domains of application. Following J. D. Sneed, a theory is thereby distinguished from its hypotheses or empirical claims. By virtue of the occurrence of terms which are theoretical with respect to the given theory, the whole empirical claim of a theory at a given time must be formulated as one single sentence. In a third step, it is explained what it means to say that a person holds a theory at a given time. This pragmatic concept can serve as a starting point of analyzing certain aspects of theory change. In particular, the idea of a 'normal science' in the sense of Kuhn, as well as the idea of a 'progressive research program' in the sense of Lakatos, can be rendered precise. In order to explain what 'revolutionary progress' means, a new intertheoretical relation is
Who reads A combined approach to the dynamics of theories: How to improve historical interpretations of theory change by applying set theoretical structures?
It is typically read by researchers, students, and practitioners in Decision Sciences.
- Author
- Wolfgang Stegmüller
- Publisher
- Springer US; Springer-Verlag; Kluwer Academic Publishers; Springer Science and Business Media LLC (ISSN 0040-5833)
- Published
- 1978
- Language
- EN
- Field
- Decision Sciences (Social Sciences)