Abstract:

What are the conditions for a theory to be successful? Clearly, a necessary condition is empirical success. But for empirical success, it is widely held, a theory must not only be consistent with the phenomena. It must also not be ad hoc. Much focus in the philosophy of science over the last few decades has however been on what many regard as a sufficient condition of success, namely novel success. Interestingly the rationale for the import of novel success is often motivated as securing against ad hockery. The present paper will critically review accounts of novel success and ad hocness, with an emphasis on the latter. In the face of some prominent examples from scientific practice, it will propose a new account that construes ad hocness in terms of lack of coherence.

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