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Single Idea 18698

[filed under theme 14. Science / A. Basis of Science / 4. Prediction ]

Full Idea

The empirical 'content' of a theory is all its observable predictions. Two theories with the same predictions are empirically 'equivalent'. A theory which gets it all right at this level is empirically 'adequate'.

Gist of Idea

Predictions give the 'content' of theories, which can then be 'equivalent' or 'adequate'

Source

Tim Button (The Limits of Reason [2013], 05.1)

Book Ref

Button,Tim: 'The Limits of Realism' [OUP 2013], p.33


The 9 ideas from 'The Limits of Reason'

Realists believe in independent objects, correspondence, and fallibility of all theories [Button]
Indeterminacy arguments say if a theory can be made true, it has multiple versions [Button]
Permutation Theorem: any theory with a decent model has lots of models [Button]
An ideal theory can't be wholly false, because its consistency implies a true model [Button]
The vagueness of truthmaker claims makes it easier to run anti-realist arguments [Button]
A sentence's truth conditions are all the situations where it would be true [Button]
Predictions give the 'content' of theories, which can then be 'equivalent' or 'adequate' [Button]
Cartesian scepticism doubts what is true; Kantian scepticism doubts that it is sayable [Button]
The coherence theory says truth is coherence of thoughts, and not about objects [Button]