Duhem–Quine Thesis

Abstract

Abstract The Duhem–Quine problem is named after Pierre Duhem (1861–1916) and Willard Van Orman Quine (1908–2000). The problem concerns a “gap” between theory and observation. Though the problem can be given various formulations, in general the issue is that a singular theoretical claim has no direct observational consequences, and thus cannot be conclusively falsified by observation.