Toulmin on Ideals of Natural Order

Abstract

In this paper I criticize Toulmin's concept of ‘Ideals of Natural Order’ and his account of the role these ‘Ideals’ play in scientific explanation as given in his book, Foresight and Understanding. I argue that Toulmin's account of ‘Ideals of Natural Order’ as those theories taken to be self evident by scientists at a given time introduces an undesirable subjectivism into his account of scientific explanation. I argue also that the history of science, especially the recent history of microphysics, does not support Toulmin's contentions about the supposed self-evidence of the basic explanatory theories in science.