Inductive Justification and Discovery. On Hans Reichenbach’s Foundation of the Autonomy of the Philosophy of Science

I would like to assume that Reichenbach's distinction of Justification and Discovery lives on, and to seek arguments in his texts that would justify their relevance in this field. The persuasive force of these arguments transcends the contingent circumstances apart from which their genesis and local transmission cannot be made understandable. I shall begin by characterizing the context distinction as employed by Reichenbach in "Experience and Prediction" to differentiate between epistemology and science (1). Following Thomas Nickles and Kevin T. Kelly, one can distinguish two meanings of the context distinction in Reichenbach's work. One meaning, which is primarily to be found in the earlier writings, conceives of scientific discoveries as potential objects of epistemological justification. The other meaning, typical for the later writings, removes scientific discoveries from the possible domain of epistemology. The genesis of both meanings, which demonstrates the complexity of the relationships obtaining between epistemology and science, can be made understandable by appealing to the historical context (2). Both meanings present Reichenbach with the task of establishing the autonomy of epistemology through the justification of induction. Finally, I shall expound this justification and address some of its elements of rationality characterizing philosophy of science(3)

The Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen Argument and the Bell Inequalities

In 1935 Einstein, Podolsky, and Rosen (EPR) published an important paper in which they claimed that the whole formalism of quantum mechanics together with what they called ``Reality Criterion'' imply that quantum mechanics cannot be complete. That is, there must exist some elements of reality that are not described by quantum mechanics. There must be, they concluded, a more complete description of physical reality behind quantum mechanics. There must be a state, a hidden variable, characterizing the state of affairs in the world in more details than the quantum mechanical state, something that also reflects the missing elements of reality. Under some further but quite plausible assumptions, this conclusion implies that in some spin-correlation experiments the measured quantum mechanical probabilities should satisfy particular inequalities (Bell-type inequalities). The paradox consists in the fact that quantum probabilities do not satisfy these inequalities. And this paradoxical fact has been confirmed by several laboratory experiments in the last three decades. The problem is still open and hotly debated among both physicists and philosophers. It has motivated a wide range of research from the most fundamental quantum mechanical experiments through foundations of probability theory to the theory of stochastic causality as well as the metaphysics of free will

Only countable common cause systems exist

In this paper we give a positive answer to a problem posed by G. Hofer-Szabo and M. Redei (2004) regarding the existence of infinite common cause systems (CCSs). An example of a countably infinite CCS is presented, as well as the proof that no CCSs of greater cardinality exist

Scientific Discovery: Case Studies

Review of T. Nickles (ed), Scientific Discovery: Case Studie

The hour of traces: an analysis of the presuppositions, axiomatic formalization, and ontological implications of Reichenbach's frequency interpretation of probability

Thesis (M.A.)--Boston Universit

The quantum and the classical domains as provisional parallel coexistents .

We consider the problem of the relationship between the quantum and the classical domains from the point of view that it is possible to speak of a direct physical description of quantum systems having physical properties. We put emphasis, in evidencing it, on the specific quantum concept of indistiguishability of identical in a conceptual way (and not in a logical way in the vein of «da Costa's school»). In essence, the subsequent argumentation deals with the relationship between the classical and the quantum, with the problem of the quantum theory of measurement. Even in the absence of a definitive response to this problem, the best attitude for the time being, as we cannot reduce the classical and the quantum one to the other, seems to be to accept their pacific coexistence, and this is possible with the tolerance principle of the «pragmatic truth» developed from a logical point of view by Newton da Costa.. Abordamos o problema da relação entre as áreas do quântico e do clássico considerando que é possível falar de uma descrição física direta de sistemas quânticos tendo propriedades. Insistimos, para isto, sobre o conceito especificamente quântico da indicernabilidade dos idênticos de um ponto de vista conceptual (não de um ponto de vista lógico à maneira da «escola da Costa») como evidenciando isto. O essencial da argumentação a seguir tem como enfoque a relação clássico-quântico, com o problema da teoria quântica da medição. Mesmo não tendo uma resposta definitiva para este, a melhor atitude por enquanto, já que não se podem reduzir um ao outro o clássico e o quântico, nos parece ser esta de aceitar sua coexistência pacífica, o que é possível com o princípio de tolerância da «verdade pragmática» desenvolvida logicamente por Newton da Costa

A New Political Truth: Exposure to Sexually Violent Materials Causes Sexual Violence

The Meese Commission gave this nation a new political truth that in years to come will undoubtedly play an important role in federal or state efforts to restrict or suppress speech having pornographic content. Legislators, policymakers and the general public will quote and rely upon the Commission\u27s key finding that exposure to sexually violent materials bears a causal relationship to acts of sexual violence, unaware that the principal drafter of the Report played down this confidence in a separately published academic essay

A New Political Truth: Exposure to Sexually Violent Materials Causes Sexual Violence

The Meese Commission gave this nation a new political truth that in years to come will undoubtedly play an important role in federal or state efforts to restrict or suppress speech having pornographic content. Legislators, policymakers and the general public will quote and rely upon the Commission\u27s key finding that exposure to sexually violent materials bears a causal relationship to acts of sexual violence, unaware that the principal drafter of the Report played down this confidence in a separately published academic essay