INFERENCE TO THE BEST EXPLANATION AND THE ISSUE OF AXIOLOGICAL TARGETING

• Autor(a) principal: Silva, Marcos Rodrigues da
• Data de Publicação: 2022
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Kriterion (Online)
• Texto Completo: https://periodicos.ufmg.br/index.php/kriterion/article/view/32640
• topic: axiologia; aceitação; programas de pesquisa; Axiology; Acceptance; Research programs

The argument of inference to the best explanation setsup that, given a phenomenon to be explained, several rival hypotheses raceto provide an explanation and the hypothesis that explains the phenomenonbetter than its rival gives good reasons for the belief in its truth and, therefore,for the acceptance of such hypothesis. The argument supposes that these rivalhypotheses share the same phenomenon to be explained. In this paper it is arguedthat, in a few scientific episodes, scientists with different hypotheses, even ifsharing the phenomenon to be explained, have different goals regarding thehandling of the phenomenon; but then an issue arises as to the structure of theargument, since setting different aims to handle a phenomenon would result inan axiological targeting by the scientists, one not enclosed in the structure of theargument. In addition, axiological targeting can also show itself as somethingcrucial for the issue of accepting a hypothesis, a state of affair not foreseen inthe argument of inference to the best explanation again. The purpose of thispaper is, by means of “research programs” principle by Imre Lakatos, and bymeans of a case study – the acceptance of the DNA double helix model – tosustain the concept that the axiological difference may prove to be crucial forthe acceptance of one hypothesis rather than other rival hypotheses.