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Poincaré, Philosopher of SciencePoincaré and the Invention of Convention

Poincaré, Philosopher of Science: Poincaré and the Invention of Convention [Jules Henri PoincaréPoincaré is famous for his “conventionalist” philosophy of science. But what exactly does this mean? Poincaré invented the category of conventionconvention because he thought that there are some central principlesprinciples in science that are neither based on intuitionintuition, empirical data, nor that are arbitraryarbitrary stipulations. His views here resemble those of WittgensteinWittgenstein, in particular, as presented in On Certainty. The invention of convention is lauded (for example, by Robert DiSalleDiSalle) as a genuine philosophical discovery. But it is also critiqued (for example by Michael FriedmanFriedman) as yielding a vision of science that is too rigid – one that is refuted by general relativitygeneral relativity. This paper aims to defend Poincaré’s views about conventions by focusing on his central idea that conventional choices, though “free”, are “guided” by experienceexperience. I will argue that conventionalismconventionalism is not a commitment to fixed a prioria priori stipulations, as DiSalle and Friedman propose. Rather, it mandates empirically motivated shifts in (even geometric) conventions – a view surprisingly in accord with Friedman’s “relativized a priori”, and thus more consistent with general relativity than is generally thought.] http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png

Poincaré, Philosopher of SciencePoincaré and the Invention of Convention

Part of the The Western Ontario Series in Philosophy of Science Book Series (volume 79)
Editors: de Paz, María; DiSalle, Robert
Folina, Janet
Poincaré, Philosopher of Science — Mar 12, 2014
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References (23)

Publisher
Springer Netherlands
Copyright
© Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2014
ISBN
978-94-017-8779-6
Pages
25 –45
DOI
10.1007/978-94-017-8780-2_2
Publisher site
See Chapter on Publisher Site

Abstract

[Jules Henri PoincaréPoincaré is famous for his “conventionalist” philosophy of science. But what exactly does this mean? Poincaré invented the category of conventionconvention because he thought that there are some central principlesprinciples in science that are neither based on intuitionintuition, empirical data, nor that are arbitraryarbitrary stipulations. His views here resemble those of WittgensteinWittgenstein, in particular, as presented in On Certainty. The invention of convention is lauded (for example, by Robert DiSalleDiSalle) as a genuine philosophical discovery. But it is also critiqued (for example by Michael FriedmanFriedman) as yielding a vision of science that is too rigid – one that is refuted by general relativitygeneral relativity. This paper aims to defend Poincaré’s views about conventions by focusing on his central idea that conventional choices, though “free”, are “guided” by experienceexperience. I will argue that conventionalismconventionalism is not a commitment to fixed a prioria priori stipulations, as DiSalle and Friedman propose. Rather, it mandates empirically motivated shifts in (even geometric) conventions – a view surprisingly in accord with Friedman’s “relativized a priori”, and thus more consistent with general relativity than is generally thought.]

Published: Mar 12, 2014

Keywords: Euclidean Geometry; Rigid Body Motion; Experience Experience; Group Concept; Empirical World

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