What Demonstrative Induction Can Do Against the Threat of Underdetermination: Bohr, Heisenberg, and Pauli on Spectroscopic Anomalies (1921–24)

Author: Massimi M.

Source: Synthese, Volume 140, Number 3, June 2004 , pp. 243-277(35)

Publisher: Springer

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Abstract:

In this paper I argue that demonstrative induction can deal with the problem of the underdetermination of theory by evidence. I present the historical case study of spectroscopy in the early 1920s, where the choice among different theories was apparently underdetermined by spectroscopic evidence concerning the alkali doublets and their anomalous Zeeman effect. By casting this historical episode within the methodological framework of demonstrative induction, the local underdetermination among Bohr's, Heisenberg's, and Pauli's rival theories is resolved in favour of Pauli's theory of the electron's spin.

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1023/B:SYNT.0000031319.64615.49

Affiliations: 1: Girton College Cambridge CB3 0JG, Email: mm483@cam.ac.uk

Publication date: 2004-06-01