Salvaging Incommensurability
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Salvaging Incommensurability Syed Sayeed1 Received: 22 January 2018 / Revised: 1 June 2018 / Accepted: 29 June 2018 © ICPR 2018
Abstract This article argues that the concept of incommensurability (of conceptual frameworks) is not as incoherent as has been sometimes argued, and that it is possible to formulate this notion in such a way that it can be meaningful. The article suggests that it is worthwhile to salvage the concept of incommensurability because it is a very useful concept, almost indispensable in explaining certain situations. Keywords Incommensurability · Relativism · Paradigm · Davidson · Lyotard
The Concept of Incommensurability The manner and the extent to which a phenomenon—I am not referring to the structure of a phenomenon but the phenomenon itself—is accessible to perception is determined by the extent of theoretical mediation and interpretation it requires. In extreme cases of theoretical dependence, the phenomenon may be all but a function of the theory in the sense that it is visible only when looked at through the lens of theory. In the latter case, we move from theory to fact in order to posit the phenomenon. When a theory that appears to be valid in other respects predicts the existence of a phenomenon, we begin to look for it in the expected region of reality. And if some flaw is discovered in the theoretical assumptions which prompted expectations of the phenomenon, and thereby the theory is invalidated, we refuse to be distracted by the apparent visibility of the projected phenomenon in question. On the other hand, if it is an ordinary phenomenon, we would expect the enquirer to start with an
* Syed Sayeed [email protected] 1
Department of Aesthetics and Philosophy, The English and Foreign Languages University, Hyderabad, India
13
Vol.:(0123456789)
Journal of Indian Council of Philosophical Research
acknowledgement of the phenomenon and proceed towards a theoretical explanation for it. With regard to the phenomenon of incommensurability, I think it is obvious that it is an ordinary phenomenon.1 It may not be a day-to-day phenomenon in the sense that the common man may not encounter it every day. But whatever its infrequency, it is by no means an esoteric or theory-induced phenomenon. In view of this fact, it is something of a puzzle that most discussions on this topic are conducted almost entirely in terms of the possible validity of the concept of incommensurability as if the existence of the phenomenon itself were a minor distraction. In the case of this phenomenon, one would expect the social scientists and the philosophers to begin by acknowledging the existence of this phenomenon and proceed to enquire about its possible structure and only then ask questions about the appropriateness, coherence, validity, etc., of the concept we might employ to refer to the phenomenon of incommensurability and describe its structure. And if we find that the concept we have employed is somewhat askew, we would try to revise the concept, that is to say we alter its relation to the
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