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Single Idea 19007
[filed under theme 14. Science / B. Scientific Theories / 2. Aim of Science
]
Full Idea
A physical theory need not be true to be good, Field has argued, and I agree. All we ask of it truth-wise is that its physical implications should be true, or, in my version, that it should be true about the physical.
Gist of Idea
A theory need not be true to be good; it should just be true about its physical aspects
Source
Stephen Yablo (Aboutness [2014], 12.5)
Book Ref
Yablo,Stephen: 'Aboutness' [Princeton 2014], p.204
A Reaction
Yablo is, of course, writing a book here about the concept of 'about'. This seems persuasive. The internal terminology of the theory isn't committed to anything - it is only at its physical periphery (Quine) that the ontology matters.
The
14 ideas
from 'Aboutness'
18993
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If sentences point to different evidence, they must have different subject-matter
[Yablo]
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18992
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Sentence-meaning is the truth-conditions - plus factors responsible for them
[Yablo]
|
18994
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The content of an assertion can be quite different from compositional content
[Yablo]
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18996
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A statement S is 'partly true' if it has some wholly true parts
[Yablo]
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18997
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Truth-conditions as subject-matter has problems of relevance, short cut, and reversal
[Yablo]
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18999
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y is only a proper part of x if there is a z which 'makes up the difference' between them
[Yablo]
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18998
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Parthood lacks the restriction of kind which most relations have
[Yablo]
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19001
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'Pegasus doesn't exist' is false without Pegasus, yet the absence of Pegasus is its truthmaker
[Yablo]
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19002
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A nominalist can assert statements about mathematical objects, as being partly true
[Yablo]
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19003
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Most people say nonblack nonravens do confirm 'all ravens are black', but only a tiny bit
[Yablo]
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19004
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Gettier says you don't know if you are confused about how it is true
[Yablo]
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19005
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Not-A is too strong to just erase an improper assertion, because it actually reverses A
[Yablo]
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19006
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An 'enthymeme' is an argument with an indispensable unstated assumption
[Yablo]
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19007
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A theory need not be true to be good; it should just be true about its physical aspects
[Yablo]
|