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Full Idea
A scientific theory is progressively approximating the truth if it increases its explanatory coherence by broadening to more phenomena and deepening by investigating layers of mechanisms.
Gist of Idea
Verisimilitude comes from including more phenomena, and revealing what underlies
Source
Paul Thagard (Coherence: The Price is Right [2012], p.46)
Book Ref
-: 'Southern Journal of Philosophy' [-], p.46
| 575 | If one error is worse than another, it must be because it is further from the truth [Aristotle] |
| 19247 | The one unpardonable offence in reasoning is to block the route to further truth [Peirce] |
| 22317 | Truth does not admit of more and less [Frege] |
| 3861 | Theories generate infinite truths and falsehoods, so they cannot be used to assess probability [Newton-Smith] |
| 3869 | More truthful theories have greater predictive power [Newton-Smith] |
| 15557 | Verisimilitude has proved hard to analyse, and seems to have several components [Lewis] |
| 9651 | Verisimilitude might be explained as being close to the possible world where the truth is exact [Lewis] |
| 17602 | Verisimilitude comes from including more phenomena, and revealing what underlies [Thagard] |