Works by Allan Franklin
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- The Neglect of Experiment.Allan Franklin -1986 - Cambridge University Press.What role have experiments played, and should they play, in physics? How does one come to believe rationally in experimental results? The Neglect of Experiment attempts to provide answers to both of these questions. Professor Franklin's approach combines the detailed study of four episodes in the history of twentieth century physics with an examination of some of the philosophical issues involved. The episodes are the discovery of parity nonconservation in the 1950s; the nondiscovery of parity nonconservation in the 1930s, when (...) the results of experiments indicated, at least in retrospect, the symmetry violation, but the significance of those results was not realized; the discovery and acceptance of CP symmetry; and Millikan's oil-drop experiment. Franklin examines the various roles that experiment plays, including its role in deciding between competing theories, confirming theories, and calling fo new theories. The author argues that one can provide a philosophical justification for these roles. He contends that if experiment plays such important roles, then one must have good reason to believe in experimental results. He then deals with deveral problems concerning such reslults, including the epistemology of experiment, how one comes to believe rationally in experimental results, the question of the influence of theoretical presuppositions on results, and the problem of scientific fruad. This original and important contribution to the study of the philosophy of experimental science is an outgrowth of many years of research. Franklin brings to this work more than a decade of experience as an experimental high-energy physicist, along with his significant contributions to the history and philosophy of science. (shrink)
- (1 other version)The Neglect of Experiment.Allan Franklin -1988 -Philosophy of Science 55 (2):306-308.
- Experiment, Right or Wrong.Allan Franklin -1990 - New York: Cambridge University Press.In Experiment, Right or Wrong, Allan Franklin continues his investigation of the history and philosophy of experiment presented in his previous book, The Neglect of Experiment. Using a combination of case studies and philosophical readings of those studies, Franklin again addresses two important questions: (1) What role does and should experiment play in the choice between competing theories and in the confirmation or refutation of theories and hypotheses? (2) How do we come to believe reasonably in experimental results? Experiment, Right (...) or Wrong makes a significant contribution to an important area in contemporary history and philosophy of science. Philosophers and historians of science, physicists, and advanced students in these areas will find much of interest in this engaging study. (shrink)
- Experiment in Physics.Allan Franklin -2012 - In Ed Zalta,Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Stanford, CA: Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
- Selectivity and Discord: Two Problems of Experiment.Allan Franklin -2002 - University of Pittsburgh Press.Specifically, Allan Franklin is concerned with two problems in the use of experimental results in science: selectivity of data or analysis procedures and the resolution of discordant results.
- Why do Scientists Prefer to Vary their Experiments?Allan Franklin -1984 -Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 15 (1):51.
- Experiment Right or Wrong.Allan Franklin &David Gooding -1994 -British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 45 (1):341-352.
- How to avoid the experimenters' regress.Allan Franklin -1994 -Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 25 (3):463-491.
- The Rise and Fall of the Fifth Force: Discovery, Pursuit, and Justification in Modern Physics.Allan Franklin -2016 - Cham: Imprint: Springer. Edited by Ephraim Fischbach.This book provides the reader with a detailed and captivating account of the story where, for the first time, physicists ventured into proposing a new force of nature beyond the four known ones - the electromagnetic, weak and strong forces, and gravitation - based entirely on the reanalysis of existing experimental data. Back in 1986, Ephraim Fischbach, Sam Aronson, Carrick Talmadge and their collaborators proposed a modification of Newton's Law of universal gravitation. Underlying this proposal were three tantalizing pieces of (...) evidence: 1) an energy dependence of the CP (particle-antiparticle and reflection symmetry) parameters, 2) differences between the measurements of G, the universal gravitational constant, in laboratories and in mineshafts, and 3) a reanalysis of the Eötvos experiment, which had previously been used to show that the gravitational mass of an object and its inertia mass were equal to approximately one part in a billion. The reanalysis revealed that, contrary to Galileo's position, the force of gravity was in fact very slightly different for different substances. The resulting Fifth Force hypothesis included this composition dependence and also added a small distance dependence to the inverse-square gravitational force. Over the next four years numerous experiments were performed to test the hypothesis. By 1990 there was overwhelming evidence that the Fifth Force, as initially proposed, did not exist. This book discusses how the Fifth Force hypothesis came to be proposed and how it went on to become a showcase of discovery, pursuit and justification in modern physics, prior to its demise. In this new and significantly expanded edition, the material from the first edition is complemented by two essays, one containing Fischbach's personal reminiscences of the proposal, and a second on the ongoing history and impact of the Fifth Force hypothesis from 1990 to the present.<. (shrink)
- The Theory-Ladenness of Experiment.Allan Franklin -2015 -Journal for General Philosophy of Science / Zeitschrift für Allgemeine Wissenschaftstheorie 46 (1):155-166.Theory-ladenness is the view that observation cannot function in an unbiased way in the testing of theories because observational judgments are affected by the theoretical beliefs of the observer. Its more radical cousin, incommensurability, argues that because there is no theory-neutral language, paradigms, or worldviews, cannot be compared because in different paradigms the meaning of observational terms is different, even when the word used is the same. There are both philosophical and practical components to these problems. I argue, using a (...) procedurally-defined, theory-neutral experiment that paradigms are indeed commensurable. The practical problems of theory ladenness include experimental design, failure to interpret observations correctly, possible experimenter bias, and difficulties in data acquisition. I suggest that there are methods to deal with these problems, although sometimes they cannot be dealt with completely. I believe that the philosophical problems of theory-ladenness have been solved, although the practical problems remain. (shrink)
- Calibration.Allan Franklin -1997 -Perspectives on Science 5 (1):31-80.Calibration, the use of a surrogate signal to standardize an instrument, is an important strategy for the establishment of the validity of an experimental result. In this paper, I present several examples, typical of physics experiments, that illustrate the adequacy of the surrogate. In addition, I discuss several episodes in which the question of calibration is both difficult to answer and of paramount importance. These episodes include early attempts to detect gravity waves, the question of the existence of a 17–keV (...) neutrino, and the question of the existence of a Fifth Force in gravity. I argue that in these more complex cases, the adequacy of calibration, in an extended sense, was both considered and established. (shrink)
- Bayesian conditionalization and probability kinematics.Colin Howson &Allan Franklin -1994 -British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 45 (2):451-466.
- Maher, mendeleev and bayesianism.Colin Howson &Allan Franklin -1991 -Philosophy of Science 58 (4):574-585.Maher (1988, 1990) has recently argued that the way a hypothesis is generated can affect its confirmation by the available evidence, and that Bayesian confirmation theory can explain this. In particular, he argues that evidence known at the time a theory was proposed does not confirm the theory as much as it would had that evidence been discovered after the theory was proposed. We examine Maher's arguments for this "predictivist" position and conclude that they do not, in fact, support his (...) view. We also cast doubt on the assumptions of Maher's alleged Bayesian proofs. (shrink)
- What makes a 'good' experiment?Allan Franklin -1981 -British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 32 (4):367-374.
- It Probably is a Valid Experimental Result: a Bayesian Approach to the Epistemology of Experiment.Allan Franklin -1988 -Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 19 (4):419.
- No Easy Answers: Science and the Pursuit of Knowledge.Allan Franklin -2005 - University of Pittsburgh Press.In _No Easy Answers_, Allan Franklin offers an accurate picture of science to both a general reader and to scholars in the humanities and social sciences who may not have any background in physics. Through the examination of nontechnical case studies, he illustrates the various roles that experiment plays in science. He uses examples of unquestioned success, such as the discoveries of the electron and of three types of neutrino, as well as studies that were dead ends, wrong turns, or (...) just plain mistakes, such as the “fifth force,” a proposed modification of Newton's law of gravity. Franklin argues that science is a reasonable enterprise that provides us with knowledge of the natural world based on valid experimental evidence and reasoned and critical discussion, and he makes clear that it behooves all of us to understand how it works. (shrink)
- The missing piece of the puzzle: the discovery of the Higgs boson.Allan Franklin -2017 -Synthese 194 (2):259-274.The missing piece of the puzzle: the discovery of the Higgs boson On July 4, 2012 the CMS and ATLAS collaborations at the large hadron collider jointly announced the discovery of a new elementary particle, which resembled the Higgs boson, the last remaining undiscovered piece of the standard model of elementary particles. Both groups claimed to have observed a five-standard-deviation effect above background, the gold standard for discovery in high-energy physics. In this essay I will briefly discuss the how the (...) CMS collaboration performed the experiment and analyzed the data. I will also show the experimental results. (shrink)
- A bayesian analysis of excess content and the localisation of support.Colin Howson &Allan Franklin -1985 -British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 36 (4):425-431.
- Ending the Mendel-Fisher Controversy.Allan Franklin,A. W. F. Edwards,Daniel J. Fairbanks,Daniel L. Hartl &Teddy Seidenfeld -2008 -Journal of the History of Biology 41 (4):775-777.
- Discovery, pursuit, and justification.Allan Franklin -1993 -Perspectives on Science 1 (2):252-284.In this article I suggest a tripartite classification of scientific activity; discovery, pursuit, and justification. I believe that such a classification can give us a more adequate description of scientific practice, help illuminate the various roles that evidence plays in science, and may also help to partially resolve differences between “constructivist” and “epistemologist” views of science. I argue that although factors suggested by the constructivists such as career goals, professional interests, utility for future practice, and agreement with existing commitments do (...) enter into pursuit, it is experimental evidence that is decisive in justification. I illustrate this with two case studies from the history of contemporary science, experiments on atomic parity violation and their relation to the Weinberg-Salam unified theory of electroweak interactions and the fifth force in gravity. I also answer some of the criticisms offered of my earlier account of the episode of atomic parity violation. (shrink)
- The Discovery and Nondiscovery of Parity Nonconservation.Allan Franklin -1979 -Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 10 (3):201.
- Selectivity and the Production of Experimental Results: “Any fool can take data. Its taking good data that counts.” E. Commins.Allan Franklin -1998 -Archive for History of Exact Sciences 53 (5):399-485.No categories
- Comment on "the structure of a scientific paper" by Frederick Suppe.Allan Franklin &Colin Howson -1998 -Philosophy of Science 65 (3):411-416.On the basis of an analysis of a single paper on plate tectonics, a paper whose actual content is nowhere in evidence, Frederick Suppe concludes that no standard model of confirmation—hypothetico-deductive, Bayesian-inductive, or inference to the best explanation—can account for the structure of a scientific paper that reports an experimental result. He further argues on the basis of a survey of scientific papers, a survey whose data and results are also absent, that papers which have a rather stringent length limit, (...) such as the one on plate tectonics, are typical of science. Thus, he concludes that no standard confirmation scheme is capable of dealing with scientific practice. Suppe also requires that an adequate model of philosophical testing should be able to account for everything in such scientific papers, in which space is at a premium. (shrink)
- Newton and Kepler, a Bayesian Approach.Allan Franklin -1984 -Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 16 (4):379.
- Are paradigms incommensurable?Allan Franklin -1984 -British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 35 (1):57-60.
- The resolution of discordant results.Allan Franklin -1995 -Perspectives on Science 3 (3):346-420.Experiments often disagree. How then can scientific knowledge be based on experimental evidence? In this paper I will examine four episodes from the history of recent physics: the suggestion of a Fifth Force, a modification of Newton’s law of gravitation; early attempts to detect gravitational radiation ; the claim that a 17-keV neutrino exists; and experiments on atomic-parity violation and on the scattering of polarized electrons and their relation to the Weinberg-Salam unified theory of electroweak interactions. In each of these (...) episodes discordant results were reported, and a consensus was later reached that one result—or set of results—was incorrect. I will examine the process of reaching that consensus. I will show that the decision was reached by reasoned discussion based on epistemological and methodological criteria. It then follows that we may use experimental evidence as the basis of scientific knowledge. (shrink)
- Is failure an option? Contingency and refutation.Allan Franklin -2008 -Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 39 (2):242-252.In this paper I argue, using two case studies of episodes from recent physics against the contingency view advocated by social constructionists. In this view, physics, or science in general, is, in Ian Hacking’s words, not determined by anything. Much of the previous discussion has centered on examples of scientific success. In this paper I argue that experimental evidence and reasoned and critical discussion played the crucial role in the refutation of a previously strongly believed hypothesis, and in the decision (...) that a proposed new elementary particle did not exist, leaving no reasonable doubt. I suggest that the argument against contingency does not require the absence of all possible doubt, but rather the absence of reasonable doubt.Keywords: Contingency; Refutation; 17-keV neutrino; Parity nonconservation. (shrink)
- (1 other version)Do Mutants Have to Be Slain, or Do They Die of Natural Causes?: The Case of Atomic Parity Violation Experiments.Allan Franklin -1990 -PSA: Proceedings of the Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association 1990:487 - 494.In this paper I will reexamine the history of the early experiments on atomic parity violation, presenting both Pickering's interpretation and an alternative explanation of my own. I argue that, contrary to Pickering, there were good reasons for the decision of the physics community. I will also explore some of the differences between my view of science and that proposed by the "strong programme" or social constructivist view in the sociology of science.No categories
- How Nancy Cartwright tells the truth.Allan Franklin -1988 -British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 39 (4):527-529.
- Stillman Drake's "Impetus Theory Reappraised".Allan Franklin -1977 -Journal of the History of Ideas 38 (2):307.
- Alan Sokal: Beyond the Hoax: Science, Philosophy and Culture.Allan Franklin -2012 -Science & Education 21 (3):441-445.
- Are the laws of physics inevitable?Allan Franklin -unknownSocial constructionists believe that experimental evidence plays a minimal role in the production of scientific knowledge, while rationalists such as myself believe that experimental evidence is crucial in it. As one historical example in support of the rationalist position, I trace in some detail the theoretical and experimental research that led to our understanding of beta decay, from Enrico Fermi’s pioneering theory of 1934 to George Sudarshan and Robert Marshak’s and Richard Feynman and Murray Gell-Mann’s suggestion in 1957 and 1958, (...) respectively, of the V–A theory of weak interactions. This is not a history of an unbroken string of successes, but one that includes incorrect experimental results, incorrect experiment-theory comparisons, and faulty theoretical analyses. Nevertheless, we shall see that the constraints that Nature imposed made the V–A theory an almost inevitable outcome of this theoretical and experimental research. (shrink)
- Cooper's evidence for faster-than-light particles.Allan Franklin -1982 -Foundations of Physics 12 (12):1181-1182.Cooper has claimed to have found evidence for faster-than-light particles by reanalyzing the data of Chamberlain et al. in their paper reporting the discovery of the antiproton. A careful reanalysis of this same data gives no evidence to support Cooper's claim.
- Commentary 02 on Galison 1982.Allan Franklin -2008 -Centaurus 50 (1-2):162-165.No categories
- Commentary on the Papers of Davis Baird, Peter Kroes, and Michael Dennis.Allan Franklin -1994 -PSA: Proceedings of the Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association 1994:452 - 457.One important point that has emerged from recent work on the history and philosophy of experiment is that technology plays an integral role in experiment, and therefore in science. Technology determines what experimenters can measure and how well it can be measured. The importance of technology, along with several new questions that its use raises, has been made quite clear in the papers presented in this session.No categories
- Doing Much About Nothing.Allan Franklin -2004 -Archive for History of Exact Sciences 58 (4):323-379.No categories
- Experiment and the Development of the Theory of Weak Interactions: Fermi's Theory.Allan Franklin -1986 -PSA: Proceedings of the Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association 1986:163 - 179.The fallibility and corrigibility of experimental results, and of the confirmation or refutation based on those results, is illustrated in the 1930's history of Fermi's theory of decay. Early results favored the competing theory of Konopinski and Uhlenbeck. It was found that there were experimental difficulties along with an incorrect theoretical comparison. When the experiments were corrected and the proper theoretical calculations made, the evidence favored Fermi and refuted Konopinski and Uhlenbeck. The relevance of known evidence for confirmation and the (...) value of ad hoc hypotheses is also discussed. (shrink)
- Experiment and the Making of Meaning: Human Agency in Scientific Observation and Experiment. David Gooding.Allan Franklin -1992 -Isis 83 (1):177-178.
- Editors’ Introduction.Allan Franklin &Slobodan Perovic -2015 -Theoria: Revista de Teoría, Historia y Fundamentos de la Ciencia 30 (2):161-162.
- Experimental questions.Allan Franklin -1993 -Perspectives on Science 1 (1):127-46.
- Física y experimentación.Allan Franklin -2002 -Theoria: Revista de Teoría, Historia y Fundamentos de la Ciencia 17 (2):221-242.In this paper I examine the roles that experiment plays in science. Experiment can test theories, but it can also call for a new theory. Experiment can also provide hints about the mathematical form of a theory. Likewise it can provide evidence for the existence of the entities involved in our theories. Finally, it may also have a life of its own, independent of theory. I will illustrate these roles using episodes from the history of contemporary physics. I will also (...) discuss an epistemology of experiment, a set of strategies that provides grounds for reasonable belief in experimental results. (shrink)
- Gravity and technology.Allan Franklin -2020 - In Andrew Wells Garnar & Ashley Shew,Feedback Loops: Pragmatism about Science and Technology. Lanham: Lexington Books.Export citation
Bookmark - Guest Editors’ Introduction.Allan Franklin &Slobodan Perovic -2015 -Theoria 30 (2):161-162.No categories
- Gravity waves and neutrinos: The later work of Joseph Weber.Allan Franklin -2010 -Perspectives on Science 18 (2):pp. 119-151.How does the physics community deal with the subsequent work of a scientist whose earlier work has been regarded as incorrect? An interesting case of this involves Joseph Weber whose claim to have observed gravitational waves was rejected by virtually all of the physics community, although Weber himself continued to defend his work until his death in 2000. In the course of this defense Weber made a startling suggestion regarding the scattering of neutrinos. I will summarize the history of gravity (...) waves including the rejection of Weber's claim around 1975, his later work on gravity waves, and examine the reaction of the physics community to his neutrino hypothesis.----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------. (shrink)
- Henry Cavendish and the Density of the Earth.Allan Franklin -2023 - In Marius Stan & Christopher Smeenk,Theory, Evidence, Data: Themes from George E. Smith. Springer. pp. 65-81.Contrary to the views expressed in many introductory physics textbooks, Henry Cavendish did not measure G, the gravitational constant contained in Newton’s Law of Universal Gravitation, F = G m1m2/r2. As the title of his paper states, Cavendish conducted “Experiments to Determine the Density of the Earth (1798).” As discussed below, one can use that measurement to determine G, but that was not Cavendish’s intent. In fact, the determination of G was not done until the latter part of the nineteenth (...) century. (shrink)No categories
- How experiments end.Allan Franklin -1988 -British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 39:411.
- Recycling expertise and instrumental loyalty.Allan Franklin -1997 -Philosophy of Science 64 (4):52.In this paper I will examine the history of the first three, of a sequence of five, experiments performed by the Mann-O'Neill collaboration at the Princeton-Pennsylvania Accelerator. The experiments were conducted over a period of four years and measured aspects of K+ meson decay. Each of the experiments was done with essentially the same basic apparatus, with modifications for each of the specific measurements. We will see the increasing expertise of the experimenters as the experiments progressed. The third measurement was (...) technically more difficult and built upon the acquired knowledge of how the experimental apparatus worked. (shrink)
- Snakes and methods: Schickore, Jutta: About method. Experimenters, snake venom, and the history of writing scientifically. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2017, 316 pp, US$50.00 , US$50.00.Allan Franklin -2017 -Metascience 27 (2):217-220.No categories
- The British Society for the Philosophy of Science.Allan Franklin -1984 -British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 35 (4).Export citation Bookmark
- The Machine Speaks Falsely.Allan Franklin -2010 -Spontaneous Generations 4 (1):71-84.How can one determine if an experimental apparatus is giving an incorrect result, if it is speaking falsely? An interesting example of this occurred in the experimental investigation, in the early twentieth century, of the energy spectrum of electrons emitted in β decay. Meitner and her collaborators (1911), using photographic detection, found that all the electrons emitted by a single radioactive element were monoenergetic. Chadwick (1914), on the other hand, using either an ionization chamber or a Geiger counter, found a (...) continuous energy spectrum. Meitner et al. proposed various mechanisms whereby initially monoenergetic electrons might lose energy. These were shown to be unsatisfactory, although the possibility of an unknown mechanism for energy loss remained. In 1927 Ellis and Wooster, using a total-absorption calorimeter, which eliminated all of these possibilities, demonstrated that the energy spectrum was indeed continuous. It had taken fifteen years to show that the photographic detection had spoken falsely. (shrink)
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David Bourget (Western Ontario)
David Chalmers (ANU, NYU)
Area Editors:
David Bourget
Gwen Bradford
Berit Brogaard
Margaret Cameron
David Chalmers
James Chase
Rafael De Clercq
Ezio Di Nucci
Esa Diaz-Leon
Barry Hallen
Hans Halvorson
Jonathan Ichikawa
Monte Johnson
Michelle Kosch
Øystein Linnebo
Paul Livingston
Brandon Look
Manolo Martínez
Matthew McGrath
Michiru Nagatsu
Susana Nuccetelli
Giuseppe Primiero
Jack Alan Reynolds
Darrell P. Rowbottom
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Howard Sankey
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Thomas Senor
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