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More on Russell's Hypothesis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 April 2022

Hilton Hinderliter*
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, Pennsylvania State University

Abstract

Previous articles on Russell's hypothesis and on criteria for scientific explanations are used as a springboard for analyzing some modern trends in science. Specifically, recent suggestions of the concept of “creation from nothing” in Big-Bang cosmology are compared to Russell's hypothesis, in light of James Woodward's criteria for an explanation purporting to be scientific. The discussion is then extended to the broader question of the direction of scientific theorizing, through examples showing that one generation's science may not build conformably upon the mindset of the previous generation.

Type
Discussion
Copyright
Copyright © 1990 by the Philosophy of Science Association

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