ACCESS // OPEN

01MIND ARCHIVE // OPEN ACCESS

SPIN.OPEN.DOUBT.

One spin opens a file from psychology, philosophy, logic, or society. Read it with suspicion.

01204 case files02ES + EN034 fronts
02

IDEA ROTOR

CURATED RANDOM
FILE SELECTED: Underdetermination of Theory, 2 min.
FRONTS / 04

Fronts

LOCAL
ARCHIVE

00 / 204

Local archive

This browser remembers what you opened and saved.

0 / 204 opened
Nothing leaves this browser.

FILE SELECTED // FILE 00

Logic & science2 MINBrief filePhilosophical framework

Underdetermination of Theory

The same available evidence may be compatible with more than one theoretical explanation.

01 / SUMMARY

In short

Underdetermination marks a possible gap between evidence and theory choice: data may not select a unique explanation on their own. Its scope and severity remain philosophically disputed.

03 / SCENE

In the wild

Two models predict the observed data equally well but disagree about phenomena not yet measured.

04 / LIMIT

The limit

Multiple compatibility does not make every theory equally good or leave evidence powerless to constrain.

FINAL NOTE

What remains

Seek predictions that separate rivals and state the additional criteria used to choose.