Scrutinizing Science: Empirical Studies of Scientific Change

Front Matter....Pages i-x
Front Matter....Pages 1-1
Testing Theories of Scientific Change....Pages 3-44
Front Matter....Pages 45-45
Plate Tectonics and Inter-Theory Relations....Pages 269-287
The Theory of an Expanding Earth and the Acceptability of Guiding Assumptions....Pages 289-314
Planck’s Quantum Crisis and Shifts in Guiding Assumptions....Pages 317-335
Nuclear Magnetic Resonance and the Acceptability of Guiding Assumptions....Pages 337-358
Electroweak Unification and the Appraisal of Theories....Pages 359-375
Galileo’s Copernicanism and the Acceptability of Guiding Assumptions....Pages 49-67
Newton’s Rejection of the Mechanical Aether: Empirical Difficulties and Guiding Assumptions....Pages 69-83
The Vortex Theory of Motion, 1687–1713: Empirical Difficulties and Guiding Assumptions....Pages 85-102
The Chemical Revolution: Shifts in Guiding Assumptions....Pages 105-124
Molecular Geometry in 19th-Century France: Shifts in Guiding Assumptions....Pages 125-144
Kekulé’s Benzene Theory and the Appraisal of Scientific Theories....Pages 145-161
Fermentation Theory: Empirical Difficulties and Guiding Assumptions....Pages 163-180
The Polywater Episode and the Appraisal of Theories....Pages 181-198
Ampère’s Electrodynamics and the Acceptability of Guiding Assumptions....Pages 201-217
Brownian Motion and the Appraisal of Theories....Pages 219-243
The Michelson-Morley Experiment and the Appraisal of Theories....Pages 245-266
Back Matter....Pages 377-379