Razmatrano je da li društvena i kulturna okolina prirodnih nauka, posebno fizike, može utjecati na strukturu njihovih teorija. Pokazuje se da na pojedine teorije okolina utječe, međutim, ne direktno, već preko znanstvene zajednice u procesu njene borbe za autonomiju i položaj u društvu. Posebno, takav utjecaj postoji kad god se pojave »suparničke« teorije koje su u nekom periodu empirijski nerazlučive, bez obzira na to da li je odnosno znaristveno područje u Kuhnovskoj »krizi« ili ne. Mehanizam pomoću kojeg se znanstvena zajednica homogenizira naspram šire društvene okoline, praveći utilitarističku i pragmatističku selekciju među suparničkim teorijama, je razrađen. Proces je ilustriran primjerom valno-čestične dualnosti svjetlosti i materije.The problem of whether the cultural and social environment of natural sciences, physics in particular, can influence the structure of their theories is considered. It is argued that the structure of particular theories is often influenced by the environment however not in a direct way but through the scientific community itself in the process of its struggle to gain autonomy and respectability with the outer environment. In particular, such an influence occurs whenever rival theories, empirically indistinguishable at a given time, are formulated, without regard as to whether the scientific field in question is in a Kuhnian »crisis« or not. The mechanism whereby the scientific community homogenizes itself against the outer environment, by making a utilitarian and pragmatist selection among the rival theories is elaborated. The process is illustrated by the example of the wave-particle duality of light and matter
