The Nature and Structure of Scientific Theories
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.48160/18532330me1.32Keywords:
scientific theories, structure, semantics, modelsAbstract
In philosophy of science two questions become central in the discussion of the nature of empirical science: 1) What is a (scientific) theory, i.e. how is it built up, how does it work? And: 2) How does a theory relate to its corresponding experiential basis? To deal with these two questions modern philosophy of science has devised various (meta-theoretical) ‘models’ on the nature and working of scientific theories. Some aspects of these models are widely held within the community of philosophers of science, but others are still being dis-cussed quite controversially. In this paper, we will consider both kinds of aspects. Particu-larly, we will analyze how the meaning of scientific concepts is determined; the axiomatic construction of a scientific theory; the idea of model building views as a bridge between theory and experience; the holistic semantic thesis of science; the question about the truth of scientific theories and, finally, the hierarchic structure of theories.
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