Instrumentalism: Difference between revisions
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In [[philosophy of Science [[Category:Science]] and in [[epistemology]], '''instrumentalism''' is a methodological view that ideas are useful instruments, and that the worth of an idea is based on how effective it is in explaining and predicting phenomena. According to instrumentalists, a successful scientific [[theory]] reveals nothing known either true or false about nature's unobservable objects, properties or processes. Scientific [[theory]] is merely a tool whereby humans predict observations in a particular domain of nature by formulating laws, which state or summarize regularities, while theories themselves do not reveal supposedly hidden aspects of nature that somehow explain these laws. Instrumentalism is a perspective originally introduced by Pierre Duhem in 1906. | In [[philosophy of Science [[Category:Science]] and in [[epistemology]], '''instrumentalism''' is a methodological view that ideas are useful instruments, and that the worth of an idea is based on how effective it is in explaining and predicting phenomena. According to instrumentalists, a successful scientific [[theory]] reveals nothing known either true or false about [[nature]]'s unobservable objects, properties or processes. Scientific [[theory]] is merely a tool whereby humans predict observations in a particular domain of [[nature]] by formulating laws, which state or summarize regularities, while theories themselves do not reveal supposedly hidden aspects of [[nature]] that somehow explain these laws. Instrumentalism is a perspective originally introduced by Pierre Duhem in 1906. | ||
[[Category:Definitions]] | [[Category:Definitions]] | ||
[[Category:Philosophy]] | [[Category:Philosophy]] | ||
Revision as of 17:00, 17 February 2023
In [[philosophy of Science and in epistemology, instrumentalism is a methodological view that ideas are useful instruments, and that the worth of an idea is based on how effective it is in explaining and predicting phenomena. According to instrumentalists, a successful scientific theory reveals nothing known either true or false about nature's unobservable objects, properties or processes. Scientific theory is merely a tool whereby humans predict observations in a particular domain of nature by formulating laws, which state or summarize regularities, while theories themselves do not reveal supposedly hidden aspects of nature that somehow explain these laws. Instrumentalism is a perspective originally introduced by Pierre Duhem in 1906.