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Single Idea 6778
[filed under theme 14. Science / B. Scientific Theories / 3. Instrumentalism
]
Full Idea
Instrumentalism is so called because it regards theories not as attempts to describe or explain the world, but as instruments for making predictions; for the instrumentalist, asking about the truth of a theory is a conceptual mistake.
Gist of Idea
Instrumentalists regard theories as tools for prediction, with truth being irrelevant
Source
Alexander Bird (Philosophy of Science [1998], Ch.4)
Book Ref
Bird,Alexander: 'Philosophy of Science' [UCL Press 2000], p.125
A Reaction
It cannot be denied that theories are used to make predictions, and there is nothing wrong with being solely interested in predictions. I cannot make head or tail of the idea that truth is irrelevant. Why is a given theory so successful?
The
14 ideas
with the same theme
[scientific truth is just what works in our theories]:
18982
|
Pragmatism says all theories are instrumental - that is, mental modes of adaptation to reality
[James]
|
18985
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True thoughts are just valuable instruments of action
[James]
|
7621
|
Special relativity, unlike general relativity, was operationalist in spirit
[Putnam on Einstein]
|
13940
|
All linguistic forms in science are merely judged by their efficiency as instruments
[Carnap]
|
17665
|
The 'Tractatus' is instrumentalist about laws of nature
[Wittgenstein, by Armstrong]
|
17658
|
Users of digital thermometers recognise no temperatures in the gaps
[Goodman]
|
4713
|
For Quine, theories are instruments used to make predictions about observations
[Quine, by O'Grady]
|
13067
|
For the instrumentalists there are no scientific explanations
[Salmon]
|
14204
|
Naïve operationalism would have meanings change every time the tests change
[Putnam]
|
16057
|
Instrumentalism normally says some discourse is useful, but not genuinely true
[Horgan,T]
|
17704
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Operationalism defines concepts by our ways of measuring them
[Mares]
|
6778
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Instrumentalists regard theories as tools for prediction, with truth being irrelevant
[Bird]
|
22197
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Theories aren't just for organising present experience if they concern the past or future
[Gorham]
|
22196
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For most scientists their concepts are not just useful, but are meant to be true and accurate
[Gorham]
|