Abstract
The underdetermination thesis, every hypothesis/theory is underdetermined by the data, has been used by non-feminist and feminist science scholars in case studies designed to show that factors other than evidentiary ones sometimes enter the justificatory work of scientists. Recent attacks on the underdetermination thesis (Laudan, 1990; Laudan and Leplin, 1991) have been taken to show that it is no longer viable to use the thesis in this way (Laudan, 1990; Fuller, 1990; Pinnick, 1994). In this essay I will argue that the most recent attack upon one version of the underdetermination thesis fails. Not only does the attack by Laudan and Leplin (1991) fail to touch the fundamental version of the thesis, the attack fails to defeat the version Laudan and Leplin consider.
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Potter, E. (1996). Underdetermination Undeterred. In: Nelson, L.H., Nelson, J. (eds) Feminism, Science, and the Philosophy of Science. Synthese Library, vol 256. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-1742-2_7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-1742-2_7
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