Theoretical Terms in Science
Theoretical Terms in Science
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科学理论术语
DOI：
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发表时间：
2013
期刊：
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通讯作者：
Holger Andreas
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Holger Andreas
什么是理论术语？这个问题至少可以用两种不同的方式来回答。首先，理论术语只是一个非观察术语。其次，理论术语是指其含义取决于科学理论公理的术语。根据第一种解释，理论术语不能仅使用徒手感知而不进行推论来应用。这种解释仅仅将理论性的概念定义为缺乏可观察性。相比之下，第二种解释的优点是对理论性概念给出了积极的描述。这两种解释都需要进一步阐述。如果我们用不可观察性来描述理论术语，我们就需要解释什么是可观察术语。对于区分理论与观察是否可行以及在多大程度上可行，文献中尚未达成共识。一方面，理论与观察区别的批评者常常只攻击关于如何区分所讨论的问题的薄弱建议。另一方面，托马斯·S·库恩（Thomas S. Kuhn）、保罗·K·费耶阿本德（Paul K. Feyerabend）和诺伍德·R·汉森（Norwood R. Hanson）对这种区别的极端怀疑正在当代科学哲学家中日益失去共识。例如，在一种结构现实主义版本中尝试利用理论术语的形式语义就证明了这一点。如果我们通过对科学理论的语义依赖来解释理论术语的概念，我们需要说明这种语义关系。理论如何确定理论术语的含义？理论术语和定义术语之间的差异是什么（如果有）？我们如何以明智的方式区分关于世界的科学理论的综合断言和确定理论术语含义的意义假设？为了回答这些问题，人们设计了各种理论术语的形式语义。值得注意的是，皮埃尔·迪昂（Pierre Duhem）和亨利·庞加莱（Henrie Poincaré）已经表达了理论术语的含义由科学理论或一组此类理论决定的观点。理论与观察的区别可以应用于句法和语义实体。因此，我们可以谈论理论术语和理论概念。此外，我们可以在作为理论概念所指对象的特定对象的意义上谈论理论实体。对理论性的哲学研究不仅涉及理论性的语义方面，还涉及句法方面。
What is a theoretical term? This question can be answered in at least two different ways. First, a theoretical term is simply a non-observational term. Second, a theoretical term is one whose meaning depends on the axioms of a scientific theory. According to the first explanation, a theoretical term cannot be applied using just unaided perception, without drawing inferences. This explanation defines the notion of theoreticity merely as the absence of observability. The second explanation, by contrast, has the virtue of giving a positive characterization of the notion of theoreticity. Both explanations stand in the need of further elaboration. If we characterize theoretical terms by non-observability, we need to explain what an observational term is. There is no consensus in the literature as to whether and, if so, to what extent it is feasible to draw the theory-observation distinction. On the one hand, critics of the theory-observation distinction have often attacked only weak proposals of how to draw the distinction in question. On the other hand, the extreme skepticism by Thomas S. Kuhn, Paul K. Feyerabend, and Norwood R. Hanson concerning the distinction is increasingly losing consensus among contemporary philosophers of science. This is evidenced, for example, by attempts at exploiting the formal semantics of theoretical terms in one version of structural realism. If we explain the notion of a theoretical term by way of semantic dependency upon a scientific theory, we need to give an account of this semantic relation. How does a theory determine the meaning of a theoretical term? What, if any, are the differences between theoretical terms and defined terms? How can we distinguish, in a sensible way, between the synthetic assertions of a scientific theory about the world and meaning postulates determining the meaning of theoretical terms? Various formal semantics of theoretical terms have been devised in order to answer these questions. Notably, the idea that the meaning of a theoretical term is determined by a scientific theory, or a set of such theories, has already been expressed by Pierre Duhem and Henrie Poincaré. The theory-observation distinction can be applied to syntactic and semantic entities. Thus, we can speak of theoretical terms and theoretical concepts. Moreover, we can speak of theoretical entities, in the sense of specific objects that are the referents of theoretical concepts. Philosophical research on theoreticity concerns syntactic aspects inasmuch as semantic aspects of theoreticity.