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14. Science / B. Scientific Theories / 6. Theory Holism

[theories can only be grasped as part of the whole]

4 ideas
If you changed one of Newton's concepts you would destroy his whole system [Heisenberg on Newton]
Experiments only test groups of hypotheses, and can't show which one is wrong [Duhem]
Statements about the external world face the tribunal of sense experience as a corporate body [Quine]
For Feyerabend the meaning of a term depends on a whole theory [Feyerabend, by Rorty]