Duhem–Quine thesis

The Duhem - Quine thesis (also Quine -Duhem thesis, holism thesis ) asserts the underdetermination of a theory by observation data. Accordingly, there is a theory of many interrelated statements that together form a coherent whole as possible.

Accordingly, on the one hand, a theory can not be verified or falsified by individual empirical observations and experiments - there are always a number of other theories for debate. On the other hand, epistemological subjects always several options when an observation inconsistent with a particular theory is to modify the theory so that it coincides again with the observations.

Your name is derived from Pierre Duhem, who first formulated for physical theories, and Willard Van Orman Quine, Two dogmas which they generalized the empiricism in his essay. There he claims that

" [ ... ] Our statements about the external world not only [, ] but in combination stand before the tribunal of sense experience. "

Otto Neurath founded the Duhem - Quine thesis with and is another representative of holism.

The Duhem - Quine thesis criticized both the attempted confirmation and the falsification of certain laws hypotheses to be too short cross.

The Duhem - Quine thesis is also seen in the context of Gödel's incompleteness theorem of 1931, which states that a complete axiomatization of complex theories in the sense of the Hilbert program is impossible.