Pub Date : 2025-11-01DOI: 10.1016/j.shpsa.2025.102088
Mauricio Suárez
{"title":"","authors":"Mauricio Suárez","doi":"10.1016/j.shpsa.2025.102088","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.shpsa.2025.102088","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":49467,"journal":{"name":"Studies in History and Philosophy of Science","volume":"114 ","pages":"Article 102088"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2025-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145466736","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-10-31DOI: 10.1016/j.shpsa.2025.102077
Kohei Morita
Intertheoretical relationships have been traditionally investigated through the notions of reduction and emergence. Recently, the focus has shifted towards the relationship between models for elaborating intertheoretical relationships in physics. This article demonstrates that three, rather than two, types of models are essential for elucidating some intertheoretical relationships. Beyond the conventional higher- and lower-level models, an intermediate-level model is crucial for establishing connections between the theories. This framework is not only applicable to some practical cases but also effectively captures the characteristics of two significant intertheoretical relationships: between classical and quantum mechanics, and between thermodynamics and statistical mechanics. By applying this framework to these cases, this study highlights both the similarity and the difference in these intertheoretical relationships.
{"title":"Intertheoretical relationships based on three-model framework","authors":"Kohei Morita","doi":"10.1016/j.shpsa.2025.102077","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.shpsa.2025.102077","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Intertheoretical relationships have been traditionally investigated through the notions of reduction and emergence. Recently, the focus has shifted towards the relationship between models for elaborating intertheoretical relationships in physics. This article demonstrates that three, rather than two, types of models are essential for elucidating some intertheoretical relationships. Beyond the conventional higher- and lower-level models, an intermediate-level model is crucial for establishing connections between the theories. This framework is not only applicable to some practical cases but also effectively captures the characteristics of two significant intertheoretical relationships: between classical and quantum mechanics, and between thermodynamics and statistical mechanics. By applying this framework to these cases, this study highlights both the similarity and the difference in these intertheoretical relationships.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49467,"journal":{"name":"Studies in History and Philosophy of Science","volume":"114 ","pages":"Article 102077"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2025-10-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145419172","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-10-30DOI: 10.1016/j.shpsa.2025.102075
Juliette Ferry-Danini
This paper sets to explain how one of the most prescribed and sold pharmaceutical drugs in France – Spasfon (phloroglucinol), introduced on the French market in the 1960s, became and remained so successful in the absence of solid scientific evidence. Integrating the epistemology of ignorance and a feminist approach to the history of medicine, my goal is to understand how this case of ignorance was initially constructed and how it has maintained itself to this day. I argue that sexism is one key factor explaining how ignorance was constructed around this very popular – and incidentally pink – pharmaceutical drug.
{"title":"A pink lie in French medicine","authors":"Juliette Ferry-Danini","doi":"10.1016/j.shpsa.2025.102075","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.shpsa.2025.102075","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This paper sets to explain how one of the most prescribed and sold pharmaceutical drugs in France – Spasfon (phloroglucinol), introduced on the French market in the 1960s, became and remained so successful in the absence of solid scientific evidence. Integrating the epistemology of ignorance and a feminist approach to the history of medicine, my goal is to understand how this case of ignorance was initially constructed and how it has maintained itself to this day. I argue that sexism is one key factor explaining how ignorance was constructed around this very popular – and incidentally pink – pharmaceutical drug.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49467,"journal":{"name":"Studies in History and Philosophy of Science","volume":"114 ","pages":"Article 102075"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2025-10-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145419171","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-10-30DOI: 10.1016/j.shpsa.2025.102085
Chiara Ambrosio
{"title":"","authors":"Chiara Ambrosio","doi":"10.1016/j.shpsa.2025.102085","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.shpsa.2025.102085","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":49467,"journal":{"name":"Studies in History and Philosophy of Science","volume":"114 ","pages":"Article 102085"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2025-10-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145419311","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-10-30DOI: 10.1016/j.shpsa.2025.102086
Alexander Bird
{"title":"","authors":"Alexander Bird","doi":"10.1016/j.shpsa.2025.102086","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.shpsa.2025.102086","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":49467,"journal":{"name":"Studies in History and Philosophy of Science","volume":"114 ","pages":"Article 102086"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2025-10-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145419310","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-10-28DOI: 10.1016/j.shpsa.2025.102076
Beñat Monfort-Urkizu
Meta-Empirical theory Assessment (MEA) argues that the way in which contemporary physical theories are evaluated has changed due to the progressive distancing of theory from observation. Richard Dawid proposed three methodological arguments as a means of capturing this “new” way of meta-empirically assessing theories of fundamental physics. Inflationary cosmology exemplifies a case where empirical evidence is scarce. In this field, Dawid claims that the synergy of his three arguments can justify relying on the limited empirical evidence to support the theory’s viability. Based on the debate that arose from different interpretations of the Planck2013 satellite results, in this paper I examine what the “cosmic controversy” shows about MEA and vice versa. My central thesis is that MEA plays a legitimate role in theory confirmation within the early universe scenario. However, I argue that the inflation debate arose from methodological preconceptions — framed as a tension between empiricism and likelihoodism — to which MEA is not immune.
元经验理论评估(Meta-Empirical theory Assessment, MEA)认为,由于理论与观测的逐渐距离,当代物理理论的评估方式已经发生了变化。理查德·大卫提出了三个方法论论点,作为捕捉这种“新”方法的一种方法,即元经验评估基础物理理论。暴胀宇宙学就是一个缺乏经验证据的例子。在这个领域,大卫声称他的三个论点的协同作用可以证明依靠有限的经验证据来支持理论的可行性。基于对普朗克2013卫星结果的不同解释所产生的争论,在本文中,我研究了关于MEA的“宇宙争议”,反之亦然。我的中心论点是,MEA在早期宇宙场景的理论确认中起着合理的作用。然而,我认为,通货膨胀辩论源于方法论上的先入为主的观念——被框定为经验主义和可能性主义之间的紧张关系——而多边环境评估也不能幸免。
{"title":"Meta-Empirical Theory Assessment in the cosmic controversy","authors":"Beñat Monfort-Urkizu","doi":"10.1016/j.shpsa.2025.102076","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.shpsa.2025.102076","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Meta-Empirical theory Assessment (MEA) argues that the way in which contemporary physical theories are evaluated has changed due to the progressive distancing of theory from observation. Richard Dawid proposed three methodological arguments as a means of capturing this “new” way of meta-empirically assessing theories of fundamental physics. Inflationary cosmology exemplifies a case where empirical evidence is scarce. In this field, Dawid claims that the synergy of his three arguments can justify relying on the limited empirical evidence to support the theory’s <em>viability</em>. Based on the debate that arose from different interpretations of the Planck2013 satellite results, in this paper I examine what the “cosmic controversy” shows about MEA and vice versa. My central thesis is that MEA plays a legitimate role in theory confirmation within the early universe scenario. However, I argue that the inflation debate arose from methodological preconceptions — framed as a tension between empiricism and likelihoodism — to which MEA is not immune.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49467,"journal":{"name":"Studies in History and Philosophy of Science","volume":"114 ","pages":"Article 102076"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2025-10-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145402475","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-10-25DOI: 10.1016/j.shpsa.2025.102074
Khadijah A. Aljabri
With the growing interest in updating different programs across Saudi universities so that they could allow for more interdisciplinary research, a question emerged regarding the manner by which literary programs are going to be restructured. As such, this research was tackled with the aim to find how a group of Saudi undergraduate students are going to respond to an engagement with science, specifically biology, in the teaching of fiction. The idea seemed particularly interesting considering the fact that science classes in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) do not endorse or engage with the theory of evolution in an overt manner. One reason why this is the case is that the theory of evolution is perceived as a blatant contradiction to the Islamic account of creation and the story of Adam and Eve. Psychology classes at the Kingdom's secondary schools are also approached in the same manner. While they do endorse the interactionist approach, they do not engage with any notions derived from evolutionary or biological psychology in any way. The research shows that there is a level of acceptance and even readiness among Saudi students regarding the employment of the bio-cultural approach or evolutionary literary theory in the teaching of literature. However, certain considerations need to be taken into account before opening the literary field up to the sciences in Saudi universities.
{"title":"Are Saudi classrooms ready for an interdisciplinarity that utilizes evolutionary biology in teaching fiction?","authors":"Khadijah A. Aljabri","doi":"10.1016/j.shpsa.2025.102074","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.shpsa.2025.102074","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>With the growing interest in updating different programs across Saudi universities so that they could allow for more interdisciplinary research, a question emerged regarding the manner by which literary programs are going to be restructured. As such, this research was tackled with the aim to find how a group of Saudi undergraduate students are going to respond to an engagement with science, specifically biology, in the teaching of fiction. The idea seemed particularly interesting considering the fact that science classes in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) do not endorse or engage with the theory of evolution in an overt manner. One reason why this is the case is that the theory of evolution is perceived as a blatant contradiction to the Islamic account of creation and the story of Adam and Eve. Psychology classes at the Kingdom's secondary schools are also approached in the same manner. While they do endorse the interactionist approach, they do not engage with any notions derived from evolutionary or biological psychology in any way. The research shows that there is a level of acceptance and even readiness among Saudi students regarding the employment of the bio-cultural approach or evolutionary literary theory in the teaching of literature. However, certain considerations need to be taken into account before opening the literary field up to the sciences in Saudi universities.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49467,"journal":{"name":"Studies in History and Philosophy of Science","volume":"114 ","pages":"Article 102074"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2025-10-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145365198","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-10-23DOI: 10.1016/j.shpsa.2025.102082
Alexander S. Blum , Jens Salomon
We present a historical and philosophical analysis of the bootstrap concept as it was first introduced in the context of particle physics by Geoffrey Chew and Stanley Mandelstam in the years 1959–1961. By providing a detailed contextual and technical analysis of the work of Chew and Mandelstam, we show that the circular causality implied by the term “bootstrap” was more than just metaphor and rhetoric, but was in fact deeply rooted in the general approach and the mathematical techniques brought to bear on the problem of high-energy scattering processes.
{"title":"Nothing comes from nothing but the rho meson: The origin of the bootstrap concept in particle physics","authors":"Alexander S. Blum , Jens Salomon","doi":"10.1016/j.shpsa.2025.102082","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.shpsa.2025.102082","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>We present a historical and philosophical analysis of the bootstrap concept as it was first introduced in the context of particle physics by Geoffrey Chew and Stanley Mandelstam in the years 1959–1961. By providing a detailed contextual and technical analysis of the work of Chew and Mandelstam, we show that the circular causality implied by the term “bootstrap” was more than just metaphor and rhetoric, but was in fact deeply rooted in the general approach and the mathematical techniques brought to bear on the problem of high-energy scattering processes.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49467,"journal":{"name":"Studies in History and Philosophy of Science","volume":"114 ","pages":"Article 102082"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2025-10-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145365195","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-10-23DOI: 10.1016/j.shpsa.2025.102083
Federico Laudisa
The von Neumann attitude on such a deep interpretational question as the role of a human observer in order for the quantum description of measurement to be consistent has been long misrepresented. The large majority of the subsequent literature ascribed to von Neumann a radical view, according to which not only the collapse was in itself a truly physical process, but also the only way to accommodate it within a quantum description of a typical measurement was the introduction of human consciousness as a kind of ‘causal’ factor. Inspired by the work of reconstruction pursued by the phenomenological reading of the London-Bauer approach, started by Steven French more than twenty years ago, the account I propose substantiates a significantly more cautious attitude by von Neumann: the time seems then ripe to tell a more balanced story on the relation between the notion of consciousness and the foundations of quantum mechanics in the work of the first scientist – János von Neumann – who explicitly and rigorously addressed the implication of a really universal formulation of quantum physics.
{"title":"Between myth and history: von Neumann on consciousness in quantum mechanics","authors":"Federico Laudisa","doi":"10.1016/j.shpsa.2025.102083","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.shpsa.2025.102083","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The von Neumann attitude on such a deep interpretational question as the role of a human observer in order for the quantum description of measurement to be consistent has been long misrepresented. The large majority of the subsequent literature ascribed to von Neumann a radical view, according to which not only the collapse was in itself a truly physical process, but also the only way to accommodate it within a quantum description of a typical measurement was the introduction of human consciousness as a kind of ‘causal’ factor. Inspired by the work of reconstruction pursued by the phenomenological reading of the London-Bauer approach, started by Steven French more than twenty years ago, the account I propose substantiates a significantly more cautious attitude by von Neumann: the time seems then ripe to tell a more balanced story on the relation between the notion of consciousness and the foundations of quantum mechanics in the work of the first scientist – János von Neumann – who explicitly and rigorously addressed the implication of a really <em>universal</em> formulation of quantum physics.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49467,"journal":{"name":"Studies in History and Philosophy of Science","volume":"114 ","pages":"Article 102083"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2025-10-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145365197","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-10-23DOI: 10.1016/j.shpsa.2025.102069
Martin Zach
According to the similarity account, scientists use models to represent their targets by utilizing similarities in certain respects and to certain degrees between a model and its target. According to the critics, however, representation is conceptually distinct from the notion of accurate representation, and rather than being the relation that grounds representation, similarity should be considered as setting a standard of accuracy. Based on the case study of research practices involved in using mouse models to study cancer, this paper argues that while the overarching skepticism regarding the similarity account may be justified, the role of similarity in specific contexts deserves attention. Indeed, it will be shown that similarity plays a significant role in determining whether a mouse model represents a particular aspect of cancer. Thus, authors dismissive of similarity grounding representation, while correct in the general picture, should take into consideration the role that similarity plays in deciding whether a model is or not a representation in concrete scientific practices.
{"title":"On representation and similarity: The case of mouse models of cancer","authors":"Martin Zach","doi":"10.1016/j.shpsa.2025.102069","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.shpsa.2025.102069","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>According to the similarity account, scientists use models to represent their targets by utilizing similarities in certain respects and to certain degrees between a model and its target. According to the critics, however, representation is conceptually distinct from the notion of accurate representation, and rather than being the relation that grounds representation, similarity should be considered as setting a standard of accuracy. Based on the case study of research practices involved in using mouse models to study cancer, this paper argues that while the overarching skepticism regarding the similarity account may be justified, the role of similarity in specific contexts deserves attention. Indeed, it will be shown that similarity plays a significant role in determining whether a mouse model represents a particular aspect of cancer. Thus, authors dismissive of similarity grounding representation, while correct in the general picture, should take into consideration the role that similarity plays in deciding whether a model is or not a representation in concrete scientific practices.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":49467,"journal":{"name":"Studies in History and Philosophy of Science","volume":"114 ","pages":"Article 102069"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2025-10-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145365196","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}