ON В«NON-EMPIRICAL CONFIRMATION» OF THE STRING THEORY
Igor Evgenyevich Pris'
Institute of Philosophy National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, 1/2, Surganov st. Minsk, 220072, Republic of Belarus
Keywords: физическая теория, теория струн, неэмпирическое подтверждение, альтернативные теории, наилучшее объяснение, байесовский метод, метафизика, Витгенштейн, physical theory, string theory, non-empirical confirmation, alternative theories, the best explanation, Bayesianism, metaphysics, Wittgenstein
Abstract
The article considers Richard Dawid’s arguments in favor of the thesis that a physical theory may be «confirmed non-empirically». This means increasing the degree of confidence that such a theory is empirically applicable. According to Dawid, the string theory has the status of a confirmed theory, despite the lack of empirical data. In particular, we analyze his «no alternatives argument». We conclude that the role of mathematics, theoretical and purely rational arguments in physics will increase, so one may regard some empirically non-confirmed theories as plausible or even true theories. The string theory is a possible candidate for being one of them. At the same time, we assert that the inference to the best explanation is a more fundamental principle than the «no alternatives argument».
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