A combined approach to the dynamics of theories

Wolfgang Stegmüller

pp. 151-186

in: Gérard Radnitzky, Gunnar Andersson (eds), The structure and development of science, Berlin, Springer, 1979

Abstract

Phrases like "Formal Approach" or even "Systematic Approach" are nowadays generally considered synonyms for linguistic or semantic analyses referring to a text within a formal language. I share, at least to a certain degree, the view of J. C. C. McKinsey and P. Suppes that this attitude was "responsible for the lack of substantial progress in the philosophy of science".¹ Indeed, this kind of self-restriction forced philosophers to limit themselves to fictitious examples formalisable in primitive first order languages and to leave examples taken from real science to the historians.