第一节问题与文献
理论与观察是逻辑经验主义科学哲学着力探索的一对范畴,也是第一次对这对范畴进行严肃的学术梳理的哲学流派。但是能否仅仅据此认为逻辑经验主义就享有对理论与观察之间关系问题的思想垄断?对这个问题的解答也关系到逻辑经验主义有无历史,科学哲学有无历史的判断。
从文献看,早在古希腊时期就有思想家提到理论与观察这个问题。据史记载,有一次毕达哥拉斯和名为Leon的王子应邀出席参观一场盛大的竞技比赛,该王子就问毕达哥拉斯:“能否谈谈你是怎样的一个人?”毕达哥拉斯回答说:“我是哲学家(philosopher)”,王子之前从未听过这个字眼,就向大师请教,毕达哥拉斯说:“就好像今天来参加盛会的人,有一些是沽名钓誉者,有些是为奖赏而拼死拼活的,而我呢?我来这里就只是为了‘观察’和‘理解’这里的一切,而‘观察’和‘理解’就是哲学。”[1]
一些重要的科学哲学教科书或综述性著述都论及理论与观察之间的关系,如“科学哲学百科全书”[2];“科学哲学的历史典藏”[3]。
专门论述理论与观察之间关系的著述主要有:奈格尔的“科学中的观察与理论”[4];“理论与观察的划界”[5];“理论、观察和科学实在论”[6][7];“从观察到理论”[8];“理论与观察的两种类型”[9];“渗透理论的观察、对理论中立的观察、不受理论制约的观察”[10];“渗透理论的观察能检验理论吗?”[11];“论观察的理论渗透性”[12];“在理论与观察之间:T。梅亚尔对月球运动的探索”[13],等等。
此外,维基百科以及斯坦福大学和印第安纳大学的有关网站有关理性主义与经验主义的内容也值得关注[14],如Rationalismvs。EmpiritryianfordEncyclopediaofPhilosophy、Rationalismvs。EmpiricismattheIndianaPhilosophyOntologyProject,等等。从这些网站内容看,在理论与观察之间关系问题上,理性主义与经验论不可分割地关联着,但在知识本质、知识的来源、知识的判据等问题上有较大的差距。[15]
我国学者特别是科学哲学研究者也十分注重理论与观察问题的研究,专文有:张谨的《观察与理论关系的历史考察及其哲学思考》,《华中科技大学学报》2001年第2期;赵妙法的《西方科学哲学中观察与理论关系评析》,《安徽大学学报(哲学社会科学版)》1998年第4期。
[1]ThereislittledireceastothekindandamountofknowledgewhichPythagorasacquired,orastohisdefinitephilosophicalviews。EverythingofthekiiooandAristotleisattributednottoPythagoras,buttothePythagoreausstatedthathewasamaensivelearning;andXenophahebelievediransmigrationofsouls(Diogeius,viii。36,p。Aristotle,deAnima,i。3;Herodotus,ii。123。)Xeiooryofhisinterbehalfofadogthatwasbeiescriesthevoiceofadepartedfriend。PythagorasissupposedtohaveclaimedthathehadbeenEuphorbus,thesonofPanthus,irojanwar,aswellasvariousothercharacters,atradesmac。(Porphyry,Vit。Pyth。26;Pausanias,ii。17;Diogeius,viii。5;Horace,Od。i。28,1。10)InhisbookTheLifeofApolloniusofTyana,Philostratusythagoraskonlywhohewashimself,butalsowhohehadbeen。(FlaviusPhilostratus:TheLifeofApolloniusofTyana,trad。F。ybeare,Vol。2,London,1912,BookVI:39。)
[2]ThePhilosophyofSEncyclopedia,LeTaylor&FrancisGroup,2006。
[3]ThePhilosophyofSHistorithology,Chichester,U。K。;Malden,MA:Blackwell,2009。
&ionandTheoryihreeLectures,PreseheFirstSeriesoftheAlvinandFanhalheimerLetheLogicalStatusofStificTheoriesioObservation,1971:134。
[5]AndréKukla:“TheTheory-ObservationDistin”,ThePhilosophicalReview,041996,Volume105,Issue2:173-230。
[6]JodyAzzouni:“Theory,ObservatioificRealism”,TheBritishJournalforthePhilosophyofSe55,Issue3:371-392。
[7]Araintoobjectswhichwetaketoberealisexplored:suchtheoriesarerequiredtotrackthepropertiesoftheobjectswhichtheyaretheoriesof。Epistemiwhichobservatioionsofit)playatralrole,andholistviewswhichseeepistemicvirtuesasapplilytowholetheories,aretrastediofthist。It’sarguedthatglobal-styleepistemicvirtues’tmeetthet,although()epistemicviehichobservation(ahickepistemicaccess)aretralizeddomeetit。
[8]HollyTuokko:“FromObservationtoTheory”,JourionalNeuropsychologicalSo1355-6177,052002,Volume8,Issue4:602-603。
[9]MarshallSpector:“TheoryaionI-II”,TheBritishJournalforthePhilosophyofSce,081966,Volume17,Issue1-2:89-104。
[10]WilliamARottschaefer:“Observation:Theory-LaderalorTheory-Free?”SouthernJournalofPhilosophy,ISSN0038-4283,1976,Volume14,Issue4:499-509。
[11]HaroldIBrown:“ATheory-Ladeioheory”,TheBritishJournalforthePhilosophyofS0007-0882,091993,Volume44,Issue3:555-559。
[12]Johheory-LadennessofObservatiooryandPhilosophyofS0039-3681,1986,Volume17,Issue1:115-127。
[13]Steveweentheoryaions:TobiasMayer’sExplorationsofLunarMotion,1751-1755,NewYork;Ler,c2010。
[14]根据http:plato。stariesrationalism-empiricism提供的资讯,有关理性主义与经验论的冲突与融合的思想过程大致如下:Iemologyandinitsmoderionalismis“anyvieealingtoreasonasasourowledgeorjustifioreteicalterms,itisamethodoratheory“inwhichtheofthetruthisiualaive”Differentdegreesofemphasisoheoryleadteofrationaliststandpoints,fromthemoderateposition“thatreasonhaspreceoverotherwayskhemoreextremepositionthatreasonis“theuoknowledge”。Givenapre-moderandiionalismisidenticaltophilosophy,theSocraticlifeofinquiry,orthezetetic(skeptical)terpretationofauthority(opentotheunderlyiialcauseofthingsastheyappeartooursey)。Idecades,Lehttorevive“ClassicalPoliti”asadisethatuhetask,notasfoundational,butasmaieutishouldnotbefusedwithrationality,norwiten。wikipedia。wikiRationalism。)
[15]Thedisputebetweenrationalismandempiristheextenttoeuponsenseexperienaiionalistsclaimthattherearesignifitwaysinwhidknailyofsenseexperiesclaimthatsenseexperieesourceofallourdkionalistsgeheirvieays。First,theyarguethattherearecaseswherethetofourceptseoutstripstheinformationthatsenseexperienprovide。Sed,theystrutsofhowreasoninsomeformorotherprovidesthatadditionalinformationabouttheworld。Empiricistspresearylihought。First,theydevelopatsofhowexperienceprovidestheinformationthatrationalistssofaraswehaveitiplace。(Empiricistswillattimesoptforskeptialterionalism:ifexperieprovidetheceptsetherationalistswedohem。)Sepiricistsattacktherationalists’atsofhowreasonisasourceptse。Thedisputebetweenrationalismandempiricismtakesplaepistemology,thebranchofphilosophydevotedtostudyiure,sourdlimitsofkhedefiioemologyihefollowing。Whatisthenatureofpropositionalknowledge,kaparticularpropositionabouttheworldistrue?Knoarticularpropositiohatwebelieveitandthatitbetrue,butitalsoclearlyrequiressomethihingthatdistinguishesknowledgefromaluckyguess。Let’scallthisadditio‘warrant’。Agooddealofphilosophicalworkhasbeeryihehisadditio。Howwegainknowledge?Wetruebeliefsjustbymakingsomeluckyguesses。Howwewarrantedbeliefsisunclear。Moreover,toknoemustthinkaboutit,anditisnaisweuseinthoughtorwhatassurany,wehavethattheedivideupthewourceptsdtodivisionsthatactuallyexist。Whatarethelimitse?Someaspectsoftheworldmaybewithishtbutbeyose;facedwithpetiionsofthem,weowwhichdesistrue。Someaspectsoftheworldmayevehelimitsht,sothatweintelligibledessofthem,letalohataparticulardesistrue。Thedisagreemeionalistsasprimarilysthesedquestithesourcesofourdknowledge。Iaheirdisagreementonthistopicleadsthemtogivegrespoheotherquestioheymaydisagreeoverthenatureofwarrantoraboutthelimitshtandknowledge。Ourfocusherewillbeoingrationalistarespohesedquestion。(plato。stariesrationalism-empirivs。Empiricism,FirstpublishedThuAug。19,2004;SubstantiveRevisionWedAug。6,2008。)