2000 HSS/PSA Program 1 - History of Science Society

PSA Abstracts
reasonable field, the standard energy conditions are violated classically. Thus
the singularity theorems are unavailable for classical GR. Our understanding
of singularities in GR turns on delicate issues of what it is to be a matter field
issues distinct from the content of the theory.
Patrick␣ J. McDonald University of Notre Dame
Demonstration by Simulation: The Centrality of Experiment for
Helmholtz’s Theory of Perception
Hermann von Helmholtz developed a comprehensive theory of perception.
The paper argues that experiment is central to his theory, fulfilling three
functions. One, arguments for the theory arise out of empirical research. Two,
the idea of experiment spans a critical gap in the account of perception. Since
the senses fail to reach the nature of actuality, experimentation and the discovery
of law-like relationships are necessary to achieve empirical knowledge. Three,
experimental practice elaborates the theory, revealing an arena indispensable
to its understanding. To clarify, the essay focuses on Helmholtz’s analysis and
synthesis of human vowels and explanation of tonal timbre.
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Roberta␣ L. Millstein California State University, Hayward
Is the Evolutionary Process Deterministic or Indeterministic? An Argument
for Agnosticism
Recently, philosophers of biology have debated the status of the evolutionary
process: is it deterministic or indeterministic? I argue that there is insufficient
reason to favor one side of the debate over the other, and that a more
philosophically defensible position argues neither for the determinacy nor for
the indeterminacy of the evolutionary process. In other words, I maintain that
the appropriate stand to take towards the question of the determinism of the
evolutionary process is agnosticism. I then suggest that an examination of the
phenomenon of developmental noise might yield a solution to the problem.
Samuel Mitchell Mount Holyoke College
Confirming Theories One Claim at a Time
The paper gives an example of a means of confirming scientific theories from
a sequence of hypotheses, so that at any point every auxiliary used has already
been confirmed. The data observed and the theoretical context determine which
hypothesis is confirmed or refuted by each experiment. I argue that the process
is not foundationalist. The objective is to demonstrate that under some real