Skip to main content
Log in

Comments on the Epistemological Shoehorn Debate

  • Published:
Science & Education Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

According to Allchin (2003), Lawson (2002) tried to shoehorn the history of scienceinto a preconceived philosophical category, the hypothetico-deductive method (HD).Lawson replied (2003) that discovery is based on HD because that's the way the brainworks, and accused Allchin of shoehorning science into another method, blind searchand induction. In agreement with Allchin, who actually wrote that HD is one of severalmethods used by scientists, I argue that HD by itself cannot explain how new theoriesand discoveries are accepted in science. Historical research has shown that other factorsare involved.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Achenbach, J.: 2000, '“Left-Handed” Material said to Reverse Energy', Washington Post, 22 March, p. A13.

  • Aharoni, A.: 1995, 'Agreement between Theory and Experiment', Physics Today 48(6), June, 33-37.

    Google Scholar 

  • Allchin, D.: 2003, 'Lawson's Shoehorn, or Should the Philosophy of Science Be Rated “X”?', Science and Education 12, 315-329.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bondi, H.: 1957, 'Fact and Inference in Theory and in Observation', Vistas in Astronomy 1, 155-162.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brush, S.G.: 1974, 'Should the History of Science be Rated X?' Science 183, 1164-1172.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brush, S.G.: 1989, 'Prediction and Theory Evaluation: The Case of Light Bending', Science 246, 1124-1129.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brush, S.G.: 1990, 'Prediction and Theory Evaluation: AlfvĂ©n on Space Plasma Phenomena', Eos (Transactions of the American Geophysical Union) 71, 19-33.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brush, S.G.: 2002, 'Cautious Revolutionaries: Maxwell, Planck, Hubble', American Journal of Physics 70, 119-127.

    Google Scholar 

  • French, A.P.: 1999, 'The strange Case of Emil Rupp', Physics in Perspective 1, 3-21.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hetherington, N.: 1988, Science and Subjectivity, Iowa State University Press, Ames.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hull, D.L., Tessner, P.D. &; Diamond, A.M.: 1978, 'Planck's Principle', Science 202, 717-723.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kuhn, T.S.: 1961, 'The Function of Measurement in Modern Physical Science', Isis 52, 161-193.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lawson, A.E.: 2002, 'What Does Galileo's Discovery of Jupiter's Moons Tell Us about the Process of Scientific Discovery?' Science and Education 11, 1-24.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lawson, A.E.: 2003, 'Allchin's Shoehorn, or Why Science Is Hypothetico-Deductive', Science and Education 12, 331-337.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mahoney, M.J.: 1976, Scientist as Subject, Ballinger, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Maltese, G.: 2000, 'The late Entrance of Relativity into Italian Scientific Community (1906–1930)', Historical Studies in the Physical and Biological Sciences 31, 125-173.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pickering, A. (ed.): 1992, Science as Practice and as Culture, University of Chicago Press, Chicago.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schwarzschild, B.: 2002, 'Lawrence Berkeley Lab Concludes that Evidence of Element 118 was a Fabrication', Physics Today 55(9), September, 15-17.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sturrock, P.J.: 1973, 'Evaluation of Astrophysical Hypotheses', Astrophysical Journal 182, 569-580.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tweney, R.D., Doherty, M.E. &; Mynatt, C.R.: 1981, On Scientific Thinking, Columbia University Press, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wason, P.C.: 1960, 'On the Failure to Eliminate Hypotheses in a Conceptual Task', Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology 12, 129-140.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Brush, S.G. Comments on the Epistemological Shoehorn Debate. Science & Education 13, 197–200 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1023/B:SCED.0000025605.42300.6d

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/B:SCED.0000025605.42300.6d

Keywords

Navigation