Abstract
Should judgments of beauty play a guiding role in theoretical science even if beauty is not a sign of truth? In this paper I argue that they should in certain cases. If we analyze the rationality of theoretical pursuit using decision theory, a theory’s beauty can influence the utilities of the various options confronting the researcher. After considering the views of Pierre Duhem and Thomas Kuhn on aesthetics in science, I suggest that because we value freedom of inquiry we rightly allow scientists some choice in how they value aesthetic properties of theories and thus some freedom to use beauty to guide their research program.
Highlights
What is the proper role of beauty in theoretical science? Those I call aesthetes claim that judgments of beauty can be a guide to the truth
Does beauty have value in science? If so, is beauty one of science’s fundamental values or does beauty derive its value from its relation to other values? Can we compare the different types of value—aesthetic, epistemic, pragmatic, economic etc.— operative in science? Is there an objective ordering of values in terms of importance or is the relative importance of the different types of value essentially contextual? I will argue that decision theory allows one to begin to answer some of these questions
Decision theory shows how aesthetic value can influence the utility of theory pursuit
Summary
What is the proper role of beauty in theoretical science? Those I call aesthetes claim that judgments of beauty can be a guide to the truth. On a plausible reading of Duhem, he claims that a beautiful physical theory realizes a fundamental value of science to a greater extent than an ugly alternative In his Structure of Scientific Revolutions, Kuhn claims that “aesthetic considerations” can lead scientists to reject an old paradigm in favor of a new one Members of different paradigms may share wildly different conceptions of beauty This is one reason that Kuhn does not talk in terms of “reasons for belief” when discussing theory choice since it is possible for scientists from different paradigms to adopt or choose different theories given the same evidence based on the same values but differentially interpreted and/or weighted. Kuhn does illustrate how aesthetic value might play a role in theory acceptance, even if beauty is not a sign of truth and he takes seriously the variation in how aesthetic properties are weighted
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
