文章基本信息

标题：Is Observation Mathematically-Laden?
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作者：Thomas Mueller
期刊名称：Principia : an International Journal of Epistemology
印刷版ISSN：1414-4247
电子版ISSN：1808-1711
出版年度：2013
卷号：17
期号：1
页码：165-181
语种：English
出版社：Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Brasil
摘要：http://dx.doi.org/10.5007/1808-1711.2013v17n1p165 In this article, we will defend an epistemological claim: that observation is mathematically-laden. A well-known thesis in the philosophy of science is that observation is theory-laden. The claim that observation is mathematically laden can be partially seen as an analogous argument. The first part of the paper focuses on the definition of mathematically-ladeness and its relations to the best-known problem of theory-ladeness. The second part of the paper presents some explicit examples and outlines the consequences and the difficulties of this epistemological limit. Finally a specific context for this problem is discussed in details: we will analyze the question of deterministic chaos as a paradigmatic example of mathematically-ladeness and shows that the deterministic or indeterministic nature of chaos is strongly linked to the choice of a particular mathematical description.
关键词：Mathematically-laden, theory-laden, observation, epistemology, philosophy of science;Epistemology;theory-laden;mathematically-laden;determinism;deterministic chaos.;Epistemologia;determinação por teoria;determinação por matemática;determinismo;caos determinístico.