Blackwell Reference Online

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P hilosophy of science the core of this position is the Duhem–Quine thesis . According to Duhem, statements about physical things cannot be verified or falsified in isolation from the theory to which they belong. Quine further suggested that what should be tested against experience is not a sentence, not even a theory in isolation, but the whole of science, since all branches of science share logic and mathematics. Epistemic holism is the ground for Quine's rejection of the distinction between synthetic and analytic statements. It also paves the way for semantic holism which focuses on the essential interconnectedness that exists between thoughts. “The central factor underlying it [epistemic holism] is the potential complex interconnectedness of things, both causally and evidentially.” Heal, in Carruthers and Smith (eds.), Theories of Theories of Mind ... log in or subscribe to read full text