DISPUTA DINTRE TEORIA OXIGENULUI ŞI TEORIA FLOGISTONULUI: O ABORDARE BAZATĂ PE VALORI COGNITIVE
The Debate between the Phlogiston and the Oxygen Theories: an Approach Based on Cognitive Values

Summary/Abstract: In this article I show that falsification-based model of theory choice is not sufficient to explain the transition from the phlogiston theory to oxygen theory in one of the important moments in the history of science: the Chemical Revolution. In the first part, I present two rival models of theory change: the Popperian one, based on crucial experiments, and the Kuhnian one, based on values. In the second part, I argue that the Popperian model is not sufficient to explain the theory-choice in the Chemical Revolution. I argue that the well-known experiment by which Lavoisier shows that some metals increase their weight by calcination did not play the role of a crucial experiment. In the third part, I show that three cognitive values had an important role in the theory choice: simplicity, external coherence and theoretical unity. In the end, I briefly discuss how the role of values in theory choice should be interpreted.

• Details
• Contents