A coherentist conception of ad hoc hypotheses

TY - JOUR

T1 - A coherentist conception of ad hoc hypotheses

AU - Schindler, Samuel

PY - 2018/2

Y1 - 2018/2

N2 - What does it mean for a hypothesis to be ad hoc? One prominent account has it that ad hoc hypotheses have no independent empirical support. Others have viewed ad hoc judgements as stemming from a lack of unifiedness of the amended theory. Still others view them as merely subjective. Here I critically review these views and defend my own Coherentist Conception of Ad hocness by working out its conceptual and descriptive attractions.

AB - What does it mean for a hypothesis to be ad hoc? One prominent account has it that ad hoc hypotheses have no independent empirical support. Others have viewed ad hoc judgements as stemming from a lack of unifiedness of the amended theory. Still others view them as merely subjective. Here I critically review these views and defend my own Coherentist Conception of Ad hocness by working out its conceptual and descriptive attractions.

KW - Ad hoc

KW - Coherence

KW - Confirmation

KW - Independent support

KW - Novel success

U2 - 10.1016/j.shpsa.2017.11.011

DO - 10.1016/j.shpsa.2017.11.011

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 29458947

SN - 0039-3681

VL - 67

SP - 54

EP - 64

JO - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A

JF - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A

ER -