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Document Details : Title: Etablir des correspondances entre théories scientifiques incommensurables? Author(s): SOLER, L. Journal: Revue Philosophique de Louvain Volume: 102 Issue: 3 Date: Août 2004 Pages: 446-476 DOI: 10.2143/RPL.102.3.504931 Abstract : The aim of this article is to characterize certain aspects of the relationships existing between incommensurable rival physical theories. Admitting with Kuhn’s latest view that the definition of incommensurability is the impossibility to translate, the article sets out from a proposal by P. Kitcher, who claims to “translate” the terms of phlogistic chemistry on the basis of the constitutive terms of the ontology of the theory of oxygen. This proposal is discussed and certain developments non inquired into by Kitcher are examined, with a view to determining better what incommensurability is. In particular a characterization is given of certain fundamental indeterminations inherent to judgements that aim to compare the contents (descriptive and ontological) of two physical theories. The argument then proceeds to show that these in principle indeterminations are, in practice, all the more perceptible and sources of difficulty as the degree of incommensurability grows. The hope is that taking greater account of the indeterminations in question might help to overcome, or at least to understand better, certain oppositions that are fixed, durable and apparently irreducible, tied to the trans-paradigmatic continuity/discontinuity of the reference. (Transl. by J. Dudley). |
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