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Reasons for the Failure of Theories

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 April 2022

Ernst Mayr
Ernst Mayr*
Affiliation:
Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University
*
†Send reprint requests to the author, Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
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Abstract

A theory may be invalid, not owing to erroneous observations or the invocation of an inappropriate law, but because of the use of equivocal terms. This is demonstrated for Darwin's failed model of sympatric speciation through the principle of divergence.

Type
Research Article
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 61 , Issue 4 , December 1994 , pp. 529 - 533
Copyright
Copyright © Philosophy of Science Association 1994

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References

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