Psychology Dictionary of ArgumentsHome
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| Instrumentalism, science theory: the assumption that theories are useful tools for achieving goals. It is therefore secondary whether these theories are true. When comparing theories, truth ultimately plays the decisive role._____________Annotation: The above characterizations of concepts are neither definitions nor exhausting presentations of problems related to them. Instead, they are intended to give a short introduction to the contributions below. – Lexicon of Arguments. | |||
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Christopher Peacocke on Instrumentalism - Dictionary of Arguments
I 88 PeacockVsInstrumentalism. Peacocke per separation observation terms/theoretical terms. >Instrumentalism, >Observation terms, >Theoretical terms. If X-ray tubes and Geiger counters are distinguished, then in the representational content - then we have observation terms instead of theoretical terms. >Content, >Representational Content, >Empirical Content. I 94 Observation Terms/Instruments/Peacocke: E.g. Square: if presented at different angles, it is epistemically impossible that it is not a square. E.g. a pair of particles: here it is still epistemically possible that it is not the result of a collision. That always requires faith in observability, therefore circular if the belief exists and ineffective if the belief does not exist. >Circularity, >Belief, >Observability, >Unobservables. In contrast, none of both if it comes to understanding instead of truth. >Understanding, >Truth. I 104 Theoretical Terms/TT/Observation term/concept/theory/instrument/experiment/Peacocke: improved tools give us no new concepts. >Concepts. Peacocke Thesis: theoretical terms are always connected to observation terms - e.g. a blind, to whom a device writes information about spatial environment on the back: how should the blind test the device? >Knowledge, >World/Thinking, >Perception, >Certainty, >Confirmation, >Verification._____________Explanation of symbols: Roman numerals indicate the source, arabic numerals indicate the page number. The corresponding books are indicated on the right hand side. ((s)…): Comment by the sender of the contribution. Translations: Dictionary of Arguments The note [Concept/Author], [Author1]Vs[Author2] or [Author]Vs[term] resp. "problem:"/"solution:", "old:"/"new:" and "thesis:" is an addition from the Dictionary of Arguments. If a German edition is specified, the page numbers refer to this edition. |
Peacocke I Chr. R. Peacocke Sense and Content Oxford 1983 Peacocke II Christopher Peacocke "Truth Definitions and Actual Languges" In Truth and Meaning, G. Evans/J. McDowell, Oxford 1976 |
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