The Experimenters' Regress: A Conceptual and Historical Evaluation

Abstract

The goal of this thesis is to show, against Harry Collins, that there are scientific and internal grounds for the resolution of controversies in experimental practice. The approach I take is twofold: On the one hand, I develop a semantics of experimental results that seeks to show the dependence of experimental results upon theoretical knowledge and how this can be used as a conceptual way out of the experimenters' regress. On the other hand, I review, discuss, and propose an alternative reading to the cases studies Collins proposes as evidence of the external resolution of the experimenters' regress.