What Scientific Theories Could Not Be

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

According to the semantic view of scientific theories, theories are classes of models. I show that this view—if taken literally—leads to absurdities. In particular, this view equates theories that are distinct, and it distinguishes theories that are equivalent. Furthermore, the semantic view lacks the resources to explicate interesting theoretical relations, such as embeddability of one theory into another. The untenability of the semantic view—as currently formulated—threatens to undermine scientific structuralism.
Original languageEnglish
JournalPhilosophy of Science
Volume79
Issue number2
Pages (from-to)183-206
ISSN0031-8248
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2012
Externally publishedYes

ID: 289118232