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Characterizing the Robustness of Science pp 61–87Cite as

Robustness, Reliability, and Overdetermination (1981)

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Part of the book series: Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science ((BSPS,volume 292))

Abstract

The use of multiple means of determination to “triangulate” on the existence and character of a common phenomenon, object, or result has had a long tradition in science but has seldom been a matter of primary focus. As with many traditions, it is traceable to Aristotle, who valued having multiple explanations of a phenomenon, and it may also be involved in his distinction between special objects of sense and common sensibles. It is implicit though not emphasized in the distinction between primary and secondary qualities from Galileo onward. It is arguably one of several conceptions involved in Whewell’s method of the “consilience of inductions” (Laudan 1971) and is to be found in several places in Peirce.

Philosophy ought to imitate the successful sciences in its methods, so far as to proceed only from tangible premises which can be subjected to careful scrutiny, and to trust rather to the multitude and variety of its arguments than to the conclusiveness of any one. Its reasoning should not form a chain which is no stronger than its weakest link, but a cable whose fibers may be so slender, provided they are sufficiently numerous and intimately connected

Peirce [1868] 1936, p. 141

Our truth is the intersection of independent lies

Levins 1966, p. 423

From M. Brewer and B. Collins, eds., (1981); Scientific Inquiry in the Social Sciences (a festschrift for Donald T. Campbell), San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, pp. 123–162.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Philosophy and Conceptual and Historical Studies of Science, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA

    William C. Wimsatt

  2. Center for Philosophy of Science, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN, USA

    William C. Wimsatt

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  1. William C. Wimsatt
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Correspondence to William C. Wimsatt .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. rue de Coulmiers 27, Paris, 75014, France

    Léna Soler

  2. , LHPS, Archives H. Poincaré, Nancy, France

    Emiliano Trizio

  3. , Department of Philosophy, University of Nevada-Reno, Reno, 89509, Nevada, USA

    Thomas Nickles

  4. , Department of Philosophy, University of Chicago, E. 58th St. 1115, Chicago, 60637, USA

    William Wimsatt

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Wimsatt, W.C. (2012). Robustness, Reliability, and Overdetermination (1981). In: Soler, L., Trizio, E., Nickles, T., Wimsatt, W. (eds) Characterizing the Robustness of Science. Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science, vol 292. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-2759-5_2

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