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Horwich, Hempel, and Hypothetico-Deductivism

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 April 2022

Ken Gemes
Ken Gemes*
Affiliation:
Department of Philosophy, Yale University
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Abstract

In his paper, “Explanations of Irrelevance” (1983), Paul Horwich proposes an amended version of hypothetico-deductivism, (H-D*). In this discussion note it is shown that (H-D*) has the consequence that “A is a non-black raven” confirms “All ravens are black” relative to any tautology! It is noted that Horwich's (H-D*) bears a strong resemblance to Hempel's prediction criterion of confirmation and that the prediction criterion faces the same obstacle. A related problem for hypothetico-deductivism in its simplest form—that is, E confirms H iff E is an (observational) consequence of H—is displayed. The discussion concludes with a suggestion about how (H-D*) and simple hypothetico-deductivism might be amended in order to avoid these results.

Type
Discussion
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 57 , Issue 4 , December 1990 , pp. 699 - 702
Copyright
Copyright © 1990 by the Philosophy of Science Association

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References

Gemes, K. (forthcoming), “A New Theory of Content”.Google Scholar
Hempel, C. G. (1965), Aspects of Scientific Explanation. New York: The Free Press.Google Scholar
Horwich, P. (1983), “Explanations of Irrelevance”, in J. Earman (ed.), Testing Scientific Theories. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, pp. 55–65.Google Scholar