I wonder whether Henri Poincare's arguments in _Science and Hypothesis_ (1905) have any bearing on these issues? Poincare's arguments present the philosophical underpinnings of "theory of relative motion". In his text he explains why, in his opinion, the first principles of physics *can't* be falsified. He examines these principles one by one. His text is a tour de force.
Drake > -----Original Message----- > From: Skagestad, Peter > > Agreed, but I would add that Peirce also articulated - or came close to > articulating - falsificationism, without using the word. Take the following: > "That which is to be done with the hypothesis is to trace out its > consequences by deduction, to compare them with results of experiment by > induction, and to discard the hypothesis, and try another, as soon as the first > has been refuted; as it presumably will be. How long it will be before we light > upon the hypothesis which shall resist all tests we cannot tell; but we hope > we shall do so, at last." (CP, 7.220) I think there are clearer passages than this, > but it is the best I can come up with without a fair amount of research. > > Peter --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- You are receiving this message because you are subscribed to the PEIRCE-L listserv. To remove yourself from this list, send a message to [email protected] with the line "SIGNOFF PEIRCE-L" in the body of the message. To post a message to the list, send it to [email protected]
