-
1 Theory
Neurath has likened science to a boat which, if we are to rebuild it, we must rebuild plank by plank while staying afloat in it. The philosopher and the scientist are in the same boat....Analyze theory-building how we will, we all must start in the middle. Our conceptual firsts are middle-sized, middle-distanced objects, and our introduction to them and to everything comes midway in the cultural evolution of the race. In assimilating this cultural fare we are little more aware of a distinction between report and invention, substance and style, cues and conceptualization, than we are of a distinction between the proteins and the carbohydrates of our material intake. Retrospectively we may distinguish the components of theory-building, as we distinguish the proteins and carbohydrates while subsisting on them. (Quine, 1960, pp. 4-6)Theories are usually introduced when previous study of a class of phenomena has revealed a system of uniformities.... Theories then seek to explain those regularities and, generally, to afford a deeper and more accurate understanding of the phenomena in question. To this end, a theory construes those phenomena as manifestations of entities and processes that lie behind or beneath them, as it were. (Hempel, 1966, p. 70)A strong approach [to construct validation] looks on construct validation as tough-minded testing of specific hypotheses:heoretical concepts are defined conceptually or implicitly by their role in a network of nomological or statistical "laws." The meaning is partially given by the theoretical network, however tentative and as yet impoverished that network may be. Crudely put, you know what you mean by an entity to the extent that statements about it in the theoretical language are linked to statements in the observational language. These statements are about where it's found, what it does, what it's made of. Only a few of those properties are directly tied to observables [p. 136]. In [an early] theory sketch, based upon some experience and data, everything said is conjectural. We have tentative notions about some indicators of the construct with unknown validities [p. 144]. [When we check up empirically on predictions from the model] we are testing the crude theory sketch, we are tightening the network psychometrically, and we are validating the indicators. All of these are done simultaneously [p. 149]. [Extracted with elisions and some paraphrase from Meehl & Golden, 1982.] (Cronbach, 1990, p. 183)Historical dictionary of quotations in cognitive science > Theory
См. также в других словарях:
The Art of Fiction — The Art of Fiction: A Guide for Writers and Readers is a nonfiction book by Ayn Rand, published posthumously. Edited by Tore Boeckmann, it was published by Plume in 2000, ISBN 0452281547. The book is based on a 1958 series of 12 four hour… … Wikipedia
The Bell Curve — For other uses, see Bell curve (disambiguation). The Bell Curve … Wikipedia
Utilitarians (The early) — The early utilitarians Bentham and James Mill G.L.Williams Jeremy Bentham was born in 1748 in London; his prosperous father, a lawyer who became wealthy from property rather than the law, planned out for his son a brilliant legal career. After an … History of philosophy
Twelfth century (The) — The twelfth century John Marenbon INTRODUCTION The twelfth century began and ended with events which mark it off, at least symbolically, as a discrete period in the history of Western philosophy. It was in about 1100 that Abelard the most wide… … History of philosophy
Criticism of the APL programming language — The APL programming language has been used since the mid 1960s on mainframe computers and has itself evolved in step with computers and the computing market. APL is not widely used, but minimalistic and high level by design, at several points in… … Wikipedia
Descartes: metaphysics and the philosophy of mind — John Cottingham THE CARTESIAN PROJECT Descartes is rightly regarded as one of the inaugurators of the modern age, and there is no doubt that his thought profoundly altered the course of Western philosophy. In no area has this influence been more… … History of philosophy
HISTORICAL SURVEY: THE STATE AND ITS ANTECEDENTS (1880–2006) — Introduction It took the new Jewish nation about 70 years to emerge as the State of Israel. The immediate stimulus that initiated the modern return to Zion was the disappointment, in the last quarter of the 19th century, of the expectation that… … Encyclopedia of Judaism
Hierarchy of the Early Church — • The word hierarchy is used here to denote the three grades of bishop, priest, and deacon (ministri) Catholic Encyclopedia. Kevin Knight. 2006. Hierarchy of the Early Church Hierarchy of the Early Church … Catholic encyclopedia
Jan Smuts in the South African Republic — Field Marshal Jan Christian Smuts, OM, CH, ED, KC, FRS (May 24, 1870 ndash; September 11, 1950) was a prominent South African and Commonwealth statesman, military leader, and philosopher. He served as a Boer General during the Boer War, a British … Wikipedia
Native American identity in the United States — In the United States, there are over 560 federally recognized tribes, and over 1.8 million Native Americans Native American identity in the United States is an evolving topic based on the struggle to define Native American or (American) Indian… … Wikipedia
Ottoman System in the Balkans — By the early sixteenth century most of the Balkan Peninsula’s Christians were submerged within the Ottomans’ Islamic theocratic society. In traditional Islamic civilization, no separation existed between religious and secular matters, and… … Wikipedia
