The structure of scientific explanation
Richard Wilton, Trevor Harley · 2017
Like the Standard View of science, the Alternative View sees understanding as consisting of statements that describe observations, and express theories and laws. This chapter examines the Alternative View, argues that it is correct and considers the Alternative View under the three subheadings: the structure of scientific explanation, testing, and deciding between alternative theories. It also examines some historical cases, additional to the Michelson and Morley experiment, which show in practice how scientists have responded when confronted with a contradiction between some observation statement and a theory. The Alternative View argues that there is no distinction between statements on the grounds of whether they are incorrigible or not, for no statement is incorrigible. There have been various attempts to avoid having to conclude that observation statements are not incorrigible. If the Standard View were correct, it would be easy to decide which of two theories to adopt.