creators_name: Eliasmith, C.
creators_name: Thagard, P.
type: journalp
datestamp: 1998-05-08
lastmod: 2011-03-11 08:53:48
metadata_visibility: show
title: Waves, Particles, and Explanatory Coherence
ispublished: pub
subjects: comp-sci-art-intel
subjects: phil-ethics
subjects: phil-sci
full_text_status: public
abstract: Peter Achinstein (1990, 1991) analyses the scientific debate that took place in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries concerning the nature of light. He offers a probabilistic account of the methods employed by both particle theorists and wave theorists, and rejects any analysis of this debate in terms of coherence. He characterizes coherence through reference to William Whewell's writings concerning how "consilience of inductions" establishes an acceptable theory (Whewell, 1847) . Achinstein rejects this analysis because of its vagueness and lack of reference to empirical data, concluding that coherence is insufficient to account for the belief change that took place during the wave-particle debate.
date: 1997
date_type: published
publication: British Journal for the Philosophy of Science
volume: 48
pagerange: 1-19
refereed: TRUE
citation:   Eliasmith, C. and Thagard, P.  (1997) Waves, Particles, and Explanatory Coherence.  [Journal (Paginated)]     
document_url: http://cogprints.org/294/1/Waves.html