保守性理论更替及其结构主义解释

Preserving Theory Supersedure and the Explanation of Structuralism

按照结构主义的开创者阿当斯的观点,科学理论具有集合论谓词刻画的数学化结构,该结构可分为特征集合与预期理解的集合两部分。所谓理论还原就是两个理论"同构"。史尼德与斯泰格缪勒等人进一步发展了这种结构主义理论进路。结构主义理论观能够更有效地说明保守性理论更替关系,它既包含了内格尔式理论还原观的优点,又消解了库恩、费耶阿本德等人"不可通约性"与"意义变化性"等问题的质疑。因此,这种理论进路是解决理论还原问题的一条新出路,虽然仍存在着一定的问题。

Adams is a pioneer of structuralism. Scientific theory contains mathematical structure characterized of set theory predicates and consists of characteristic set and intended interpretation. The so - called theory reduction are the theories＂ isomorphism＂ and satisfied the condition of connectability and the condition of derivability. Later, struc- turalists such as sneed and stegmuller further develop the theory approach. The structuralism can effectively explain the supersedure relation between different theories. On the one hand,it contains the advantages of Nagel generic the- ory reduction ; on the other hand, it relieves the challenge of the＂ incommensurability＂ and ＂the meaning variance＂ of Kuhn, Feyeabend and others. This is a new resolution to solve the theory reduction problem, but there are some problems.