Identifiability and the Status of Theoretical Terms

  • Herbert A. Simon
Chapter
Part of the The University of Western Ontario Series in Philosophy of Science book series (WONS, volume 11)

Abstract

Much recent discussion about the structure of scientific theories has centered on the status of theoretical terms, that is, terms whose direct referents are not observables. It has been asked whether such terms are always definable, or if not definable, whether they are always eliminable. Another line of inquiry asks under what circumstances theoretical terms, or sentences containing them are meaningful; and still another asks under what circumstances they are identifiable, that is, can be estimated from observational data.

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Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 1977

Authors and Affiliations

  • Herbert A. Simon
    • 1
  1. 1.Carnegie-Mellon UniversityUSA

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