Semantic incommensurability and empirical comparability : the case of Lorentz and Einstein
Philosophia Scientiae, Le problème de l’incommensurabilité un demi-siècle après, Tome 8 (2004) no. 1, pp. 73-94.

L'incommensurabilité sémantique est comprise comme la non-traduisibilité de concepts appartenant à différentes théories. L'objectif de l'article est de proposer une reconstruction rationnelle de la notion d'incommensurabilité qui sous-tend les écrits de Feyerabend et du dernier Kuhn. L'incommensurabilité, prétend-on, peut être reconstruite sur cette base en tant que notion cohérente, et des exemples pertinents peuvent en être donnés. L'impossibilité de la traduction entre concepts incommensurables provient de l'impossibilité de satisfaire conjointement deux conditions d'adéquation que la théorie contextuelle de la signification impose aux traductions. Les analogues conceptuels potentiels s'avèrent, soit ne pas préserver les conditions d'application, soit ne pas reproduire les relations inférentielles pertinentes. L'incommensurabilité est ainsi construite comme le résultat d'un type particulier de relations conceptuelles produit par l'incompatibilité des théories correspondantes. Ces relations conceptuelles sont suffisamment étroites pour rendre possible une comparaison empirique des assertions théoriques pertinentes. L'article s'efforce de rendre ces thèses plausibles en développant des exemples tirés de l'électrodynamique classique et de la relativité spéciale.

Semantic incommensurability is understood as non-translatability of concepts taken from different theories. My aim is to give a rational reconstruction of the notion of incommensurability underlying the writings of Feyerabend and the later Kuhn. I claim that incommensurability can be reconstructed on this basis as a coherent conception and that relevant instances can be identified. The translation failure between incommensurable concepts arises from the impossibility to jointly fulfil two conditions of adequacy that the context theory of meaning places on translations. Potential conceptual analogues either fail to preserve the conditions of application or to reproduce the relevant inferential relations. Incommensurability is thus construed as the result of a particular type of conceptual relations which is produced by the incompatibility of the pertinent theories. These conceptual relations are sufficiently tight to make an empirical comparison of the relevant theoretical assertions possible. I try to make these claims plausible by elaborating examples from classical electrodynamics and special relativity.

@article{PHSC_2004__8_1_73_0,
     author = {Carrier, Martin},
     title = {Semantic incommensurability and empirical comparability : the case of {Lorentz} and {Einstein}},
     journal = {Philosophia Scientiae},
     pages = {73--94},
     publisher = {\'Editions Kim\'e},
     volume = {8},
     number = {1},
     year = {2004},
     language = {en},
     url = {http://archive.numdam.org/item/PHSC_2004__8_1_73_0/}
}
TY  - JOUR
AU  - Carrier, Martin
TI  - Semantic incommensurability and empirical comparability : the case of Lorentz and Einstein
JO  - Philosophia Scientiae
PY  - 2004
SP  - 73
EP  - 94
VL  - 8
IS  - 1
PB  - Éditions Kimé
UR  - http://archive.numdam.org/item/PHSC_2004__8_1_73_0/
LA  - en
ID  - PHSC_2004__8_1_73_0
ER  - 
%0 Journal Article
%A Carrier, Martin
%T Semantic incommensurability and empirical comparability : the case of Lorentz and Einstein
%J Philosophia Scientiae
%D 2004
%P 73-94
%V 8
%N 1
%I Éditions Kimé
%U http://archive.numdam.org/item/PHSC_2004__8_1_73_0/
%G en
%F PHSC_2004__8_1_73_0
Carrier, Martin. Semantic incommensurability and empirical comparability : the case of Lorentz and Einstein. Philosophia Scientiae, Le problème de l’incommensurabilité un demi-siècle après, Tome 8 (2004) no. 1, pp. 73-94. http://archive.numdam.org/item/PHSC_2004__8_1_73_0/

[1] Allén S. (editor) 1989.- Possible Worlds in Humanities, Arts and Sciences, Berlin: de Gruyter. | MR

[2] Buchwald J. Z. (editor) 1995.- Scientific Practice. Theories and Stories of Doing Physics, Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

[3] Carrier Martin 2001a.- Changing Laws and Shifting Concepts: On the Nature and Impact of Incommensurability

[4] Carrier Martin 2001b.- Shifting Symbolic Structures and Changing Theories: On the Non-Translatability and Empirical Comparability of Incommensurable Theories

[5] Colodny R.G. (editor) 1965.- Beyond the Edge of Certainty, Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall.

[6] Cushing J. T. 1998.- Philosophical Concepts in Physics, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. | MR | Zbl

[7] Darrigol Olivier 1996.- The Electrodynamic Origins of Relativity Theory, Historical Studies in the Physical and Biological Sciences, 26: 241-312.

[8] Drude, P. 1900.- The Theory of Optics, New York: Dover, 1959. | MR

[9] Ferrari M. and Stamatescu I. (editors) 2001.- Symbol and Physical Knowledge. On the Conceptual Structure of Physics, Berlin: Springer.

[10] Feyerabend, Paul K. 1978.- Der wissenschaftstheoretische Realismus und die Autorität der Wissenschaften (Ausgewählte Schriften I), Braunschweig: Vieweg.

[11] Feyerabend, Paul K. 1981.- Realism, Rationalism and Scientific Method (Philosophical Papers 1), Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1981.

[12] Feyerabend, Paul K. 1962.- Explanation, Reduction, and Empiricism

[13] Feyerabend, Paul K. 1965.- Problems of Empiricism

[14] Feyerabend, Paul K. 1972.- Die Wissenschaftstheorie-eine bisher unerforschte Form des Irrsinns

[15] French A. P. 1968.- Special Relativity, Cambridge Mass.: MIT Press.

[16] Hon G. 1995.- Is the Identification of Experimental Error Contextually Dependent

[17] Horwich P. (editor) 1993.- World Changes: Thomas Kuhn and the Nature of Science, Cambridge Mass.: MIT Press. | MR

[18] Hoyningen-Huene Paul 1989.- Die Wissenschaftsphilosophie Thomas S. Kuhns, Braunschweig: Vieweg.

[19] Hoyningen-Huene P. and Sankey H. (editors) 2001.- Incommensurability and Related Matters, Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science, Dordrecht: Kluwer.

[20] Irzik G. and Grünberg T. 1995.- Carnap and Kuhn: Arch Enemies or Close Allies, The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, 46: 285-307. | MR

[21] Irzik G. and Grünberg T. 1998.- Whorfian Variations on Kantian Themes: Kuhn's Linguistic Turn, Studies in History and Philosophy of Science, 29: 207-221.

[22] Krüger L. et al. (editors) 1987.- The Probabilistic Revolution I: Ideas in History, Cambridge Mass.: MIT Press, | MR

[23] Kuhn Thomas S. 1962.- The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Second edition, 1970.

[24] Kuhn Thomas S. 1983.- Commensurability, Comparability, Communicability, PSA 1982. II, East Lansing Mich.: PSA: 669-688.

[25] Kuhn Thomas S. 1987.- What are Scientific Revolutions | MR

[26] Kuhn Thomas S. 1989.- Possible Worlds in History of Science

[27] Kuhn Thomas S. 1990.- The Road since Structure, PSA 1990. II, East Lansing Mich.: PSA 1991: 3-13.

[28] Kuhn Thomas S. 1993.- Afterwords

[29] Lorentz H. A. 1899.- Simplified Theory of Electrical and Optical Phenomena in Moving Systems

[30] Mccormmach R. 1970.- Einstein, Lorentz, and the Electron Theory, Historical Studies in the Physical Sciences, 2: 41-87.

[31] Miller A. I. 1981.- Albert Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity. Emergence (1905) and Early Interpretation (1905-1911), Reading Mass.: Addison-Wesley. | MR

[32] Nersessian N. J. 1986.- Why Wasn't Lorentz Einstein?, An Examination of the Scientific Method of H.A. Lorentz, Centaurus, 29: 205-242. | MR

[33] Papineau D. 1979.- Theory and Meaning, Oxford: Clarendon Press.

[34] Sankey H. 1994.- The Incommensurability Thesis, Aldershot: Ashgate.

[35] Schaffner K. 1972.- Nineteenth-Century Aether Theories, Oxford: Pergamon Press.

[36] Schaffner K. 1974.- Einstein versus Lorentz: Research Programmes and the Logic of Comparative Theory Evaluation, The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, 25: 45-78.