The Controversy over Empirical Content of Scientific Theories

The topic of the paper is underdetermination of theories by empirical data. The author distinguishes between two versions of this tenet. The first is the Duhem-Quine thesis which concerns falsification of scientific hypotheses and theories. The second version urges scientists to accept certain theories as empirically equivalent. It is this latter contention that has been scrutinized by the author. He concentrates on arguments against the pluralist solution and undertakes to question them. In the end he claims that traditional arguments about the strength of empiricism have lost their persuasive power, and, in his opinion, the controversy over the empirical content of theories has come to an end.