
doi: 10.1111/phc3.12417
Abstract Evidential holism begins with something like the claim that “it is only jointly as a theory that scientific statements imply their observable consequences.” This is the holistic claim that Elliott Sober tells us is an “unexceptional observation” (1993: 35). But variations on this “unexceptional” claim feature as a premise in a series of controversial arguments for radical conclusions, such as: that there is no analytic or synthetic distinction; that the meaning of a sentence cannot be understood without understanding the whole language of which it is a part; that all knowledge is empirical knowledge (there is no a priori knowledge). This paper is a survey of what evidential holism is, how plausible it is, and what consequences it has. Section 2 will distinguish a range of different holistic claims, Sections 3 and 4 explore how well motivated they are and how they relate to one another, and Section 5 returns to the arguments listed above and uses the distinctions from the previous sections to identify holism's role in each case.
indispensability arguments, falsification, evidence, apriori knowledge, empiricism, naturalism, Quine, underdetermination, Epistemology, 100, Quine, Willard, Philosophy of Science, confirmation, Willard, holism, values in science, Quine-Duhem thesis
indispensability arguments, falsification, evidence, apriori knowledge, empiricism, naturalism, Quine, underdetermination, Epistemology, 100, Quine, Willard, Philosophy of Science, confirmation, Willard, holism, values in science, Quine-Duhem thesis
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