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On the Conflicting Assessments of the Current Status of String Theory

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2022

Richard Dawid
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Abstract

The current status of string theory is assessed quite differently by most of the theory's exponents than by the majority of physicists in other fields. While the former tend to have a high degree of trust in string theory's viability, the latter largely share a substantially more skeptical point of view. This article argues that the controversy can be best understood in terms of a paradigmatic rift between the two sides over their understandings of theory assessment. An attempt is made to evaluate the two conflicting paradigms on their own terms.

Type
Research Article
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 76 , Issue 5 , December 2009 , pp. 984 - 996
Copyright
Copyright © The Philosophy of Science Association

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