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Toulmin on Ideals of Natural Order

Abstract

In this paper I criticize Toulmin's concept of ‘Ideals of Natural Order’ and his account of the role these ‘Ideals’ play in scientific explanation as given in his book, Foresight and Understanding. I argue that Toulmin's account of ‘Ideals of Natural Order’ as those theories taken to be self evident by scientists at a given time introduces an undesirable subjectivism into his account of scientific explanation. I argue also that the history of science, especially the recent history of microphysics, does not support Toulmin's contentions about the supposed self-evidence of the basic explanatory theories in science.

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Bibliography

  1. Orear, Jay, Fundamental Physics, John Wiley and Sons, New York, 1961.

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  2. Toulmin, Stephen, Foresight and Understanding, Indiana University Press, Bloomington, 1961.

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Purtill, R.L. Toulmin on Ideals of Natural Order. Synthese 22, 431–437 (1971). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00413437

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00413437

Keywords

  • Recent History
  • Scientific Explanation
  • Natural Order
  • Explanatory Theory
  • Basic Explanatory Theory