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Single Idea 18960

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

Full Idea

Scientists want successful predictions in order to confirm their theories; they do not want theories in order to obtain the predictions, which are in some cases of not the slightest interest in themselves.

Gist of Idea

Most predictions are uninteresting, and are only sought in order to confirm a theory

Source

Hilary Putnam (Philosophy of Logic [1971], Ch.8)

Book Ref

Putnam,Hilary: 'Philosophy of Logic' [Routledge 1972], p.72

A Reaction

Equally, we might only care about the prediction, and have no interest at all in the theory. Farmers want weather predictions, not a PhD in meteorology.

The 14 ideas from 'Philosophy of Logic'

18949 The universal syllogism is now expressed as the transitivity of subclasses [Putnam]
18951 For scientific purposes there is a precise concept of 'true-in-L', using set theory [Putnam]
18950 Physics is full of non-physical entities, such as space-vectors [Putnam]
18955 Having a valid form doesn't ensure truth, as it may be meaningless [Putnam]
18952 '⊃' ('if...then') is used with the definition 'Px ⊃ Qx' is short for '¬(Px & ¬Qx)' [Putnam]
18953 Modern notation frees us from Aristotle's restriction of only using two class-names in premises [Putnam]
18954 Before the late 19th century logic was trivialised by not dealing with relations [Putnam]
18956 Asserting first-order validity implicitly involves second-order reference to classes [Putnam]
18957 Nominalism only makes sense if it is materialist [Putnam]
18958 In type theory, 'x ∈ y' is well defined only if x and y are of the appropriate type [Putnam]
18959 Sets larger than the continuum should be studied in an 'if-then' spirit [Putnam]
18960 Most predictions are uninteresting, and are only sought in order to confirm a theory [Putnam]
18962 Unfashionably, I think logic has an empirical foundation [Putnam]
18961 We can identify functions with certain sets - or identify sets with certain functions [Putnam]