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The Theory-Ladenness of Observation and the Theory-Ladenness of the Rest of the Scientific Process
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 April 2022
Abstract
We use evidence from cognitive psychology and the history of science to examine the issue of the theory-ladenness of perceptual observation. This evidence shows that perception is theory-laden, but that it is only strongly theory-laden when the perceptual evidence is ambiguous or degraded, or when it requires a difficult perceptual judgment. We argue that debates about the theory-ladenness issue have focused too narrowly on the issue of perceptual experience, and that a full account of the scientific process requires an examination of theory-ladenness in attention, perception, data interpretation, data production, memory, and scientific communication. We conclude that the evidence for theory-ladenness does not lead to a relativist account of scientific knowledge.
- Type
- Theory-Ladeness and the Neurology of Perception
- Information
- Copyright
- Copyright © Philosophy of Science Association 2001
Footnotes
We would like to thank Fouad Abd-El-Khalick, Ellen Brewer, Clark Chinn, Don Dulany, Allan Franklin, and Lester Loschky for very helpful comments on an earlier draft of this paper.
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