A Matter of Kuhnian Theory-Choice? The GWS Model and the Neutral Current

Abstract

In the Kuhnian view of theory choice, theories, as a matter of empirical fact, often score differently with regard to the standard theoretical virtues. The case I discuss in this paper, however, is a case in which there was one theory which was more virtuous than all its competitors. In such cases practitioners' disparate weighting preferences, which Kuhn is so keen to emphasize, make no difference to theory choice: practitioners' choices will converge on one theory despite their different weighting preferences. The case I discuss in this paper concerns the Glashow-Weinberg-Salam (GWS) model of electroweak interactions in the early 1970s. After considering the contemporary experimental evidence in its favor in detail, I argue that the GWS model was chosen not because the evidence in its favor was compelling, but rather because its virtues exceeded those of its competitors.

The Virtues of Pursuit-Worthy Speculation: The Promises of Cosmic Inflation

“…Free parameters, however, are tantamount to forms of adhocness; the latter in turn is plausibly construed in terms of diminished coherence (see Duerr and Wolf (Sect. 4 2023) and Schindler (2018) for an elaboration)-an epistemic defect. Unless additional arguments pare down the form of f (R), f (R) Gravity's conservativeness and simplicity collide with the demand for coherence, the shunning of ad-hocness.…”

“…Hence, the free parameters and functions constitute serious lack of coherence; they spawn ad-hocness (cf. Schindler (2014); Schindler (2018, Ch. 5)).…”

“…The fertility of the economic account of pursuit-worthiness has been demonstrated in several case studies (e.g Cabrera (2021),Fischer (2024),Olano (2023),Schindler (2014),Šešelja and Weber (2012),. and Wolf and Duerr (forthcoming)).…”

Theoretical Virtues: Do Scientists Think What Philosophers Think They Ought to Think?

“…But there is also another conception of unification, namely, unification as identifying principles underlying seemingly disparate phenomena (Morrison 2000;Schindler 2018). For example, Maxwell's theory identified light as a form of electromagnetic radiation, and in the 1970s, high energy physicists unified electromagnetic and weak interactions in a precursor of the standard model, even when that did not yet translate to immediate empirical success (Schindler 2014). It is this "non-deflationary" sense of unification that will be used in what follows.…”

Experimental background and theory ladenness of experimentation

“…Deborah Mayo (Mayo 1994) also reduces the analysis of experimental data to consideration of the role of statistical methods and excludes the role of the theory being tested on that basis. Samuel Schindler (Schindler 2014) emphasizes the impact of high-level theory (the theory being tested) on the result of the experiment, in particular the willingness of experimenters to register neutral currents based on a theoretical need rooted in a high scientific value of the Glashow-Weinberg-Salam theory.…”