May the Reinforcement Be with You: On the Reconstruction of Scientific Episodes
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Abstract
Like theories, reconstructions of episodes in the history of science can possess, or lack, certain virtues such that, when we face two or more different reconstructions of the same episode, we assume that we should choose the most “virtuous one”. However, we will argue that, with dissimilar reconstructions of the same episode, it is not always necessary to separate the “good ones” from the “wrong ones”, and that, as a matter of fact, each reconstruction could provide different but perhaps equally relevant data about the episode, about science in general, and about particular philosophical theses. In order to help us to identify these benefits, we will present a criterion that guides the search for historiographical reinforcement of philosophical theses and we will use it to evaluate three different reconstructions of the same scientific episode.
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May the Reinforcement Be with You: On the Reconstruction of Scientific Episodes
In: Journal of the Philosophy of HistorySearch for other papers by María del Rosario Martínez-Ordaz in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Search for other papers by Luis Estrada-González in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Abstract
Like theories, reconstructions of episodes in the history of science can possess, or lack, certain virtues such that, when we face two or more different reconstructions of the same episode, we assume that we should choose the most “virtuous one”. However, we will argue that, with dissimilar reconstructions of the same episode, it is not always necessary to separate the “good ones” from the “wrong ones”, and that, as a matter of fact, each reconstruction could provide different but perhaps equally relevant data about the episode, about science in general, and about particular philosophical theses. In order to help us to identify these benefits, we will present a criterion that guides the search for historiographical reinforcement of philosophical theses and we will use it to evaluate three different reconstructions of the same scientific episode.
| All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 655 | 68 | 13 |
| Full Text Views | 116 | 3 | 0 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 63 | 8 | 1 |