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Single Idea 22357
[filed under theme 14. Science / A. Basis of Science / 3. Experiment
]
Full Idea
The 'experimenter's regress' says that to know whether a result is correct, one needs to know whether the apparatus is reliable. But one doesn't know whether the apparatus is reliable unless one knows that it produces correct results ...and so on.
Gist of Idea
The 'experimenter's regress' says success needs reliability, which is only tested by success
Source
Reiss,J/Spreger,J (Scientific Objectivity [2014], 2.3)
Book Ref
'Stanford Online Encyclopaedia of Philosophy', ed/tr. Stanford University [plato.stanford.edu], p.6
A Reaction
[H. Collins (1985), a sociologist] I take this to be a case of the triumphant discovery of a vicious circle which destroys all knowledge turning out to be a benign circle. We build up a coherent relationship between reliable results and good apparatus.
The
15 ideas
with the same theme
[deliberate isolation of one cause or effect]:
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12117
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Science moves up and down between inventions of causes, and experiments
[Bacon]
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6603
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Nature is revealed when we put it under pressure rather than observe it
[Bacon]
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3618
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Only experiments can settle disagreements between rival explanations
[Descartes]
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16944
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Science is common sense, with a sophisticated method
[Quine]
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15869
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Reports of experiments eliminate the experimenter, and present results as the behaviour of nature
[Harré]
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7452
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An experiment is a test, or an adventure, or a diagnosis, or a dissection
[Hacking, by PG]
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2454
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We can deliberately cause ourselves to have true thoughts - hence the value of experiments
[Fodor]
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2455
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Interrogation and experiment submit us to having beliefs caused
[Fodor]
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2461
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An experiment is a deliberate version of what informal thinking does all the time
[Fodor]
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2460
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Participation in an experiment requires agreement about what the outcome will mean
[Fodor]
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22172
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Not all sciences are experimental; astronomy relies on careful observation
[Okasha]
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22177
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Randomised Control Trials have a treatment and a control group, chosen at random
[Okasha]
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14351
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Maybe an experiment unmasks an essential disposition, and reveals its regularities
[Corry]
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22139
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Experiments don't just observe; they look to see what interventions change the natural order
[Boulter]
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22357
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The 'experimenter's regress' says success needs reliability, which is only tested by success
[Reiss/Sprenger]
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