![]() ![]() On Dawid’s view, current high energy physics has moved away from this methodological template, and towards a new kind of ‘non empirical’ methodology, in which theories are assessed primarily on the basis of argumentation that does not concern their ability to make accurate empirical predictions. Dawid ( 2013), that string theorists (and theoretical quantum gravity researchers in general) have largely abandoned the empirical methodology that was previously characteristic of physics, in which a theory is evaluated primarily on the basis of how well it predicts/accommodates the results of relevant experiments. ![]() Firstly, Cabrera’s ‘ String Theory, Non-Empirical Theory Assessment, and the Context of Pursuit’ addresses the currently influential view, articulated by e.g. Of the eight contributions included in the issue, two engage directly with current debates surrounding how theories of quantum gravity should be assessed in the absence of relevant experimental data. This special issue aims to facilitate the further engagement of philosophers in this crucial debate by collecting eight contributions that both highlight the deep philosophical issues at stake in debates surrounding the proper methodology for theory assessment in physics, and present novel philosophical perspectives on specific reasoning strategies in the physical sciences. There is currently intense and wide spread disagreement surrounding what kinds of reasoning strategies can legitimately be employed in the assessment of competing physical theories and research programs. As well as clarifying the epistemic structure of 21st century physics and providing new stimulation for general debates surrounding the epistemology of science, this will also allow more philosophers to confront and engage with the existential methodological debates currently raging within physics. This in turn suggests that it is time for philosophers to redirect their attention towards the characteristic reasoning strategies at play in contemporary physics. The fact that whole communities of physicists have devoted so much time and effort to evaluating theories that are largely disconnected from experiments and empirical testing suggests that existing philosophical accounts of the epistemology of physics, based as they are on a broadly empiricist conception of physics, are no longer completely apt, or are at least somewhat out of date. The most prominent examples of this trend occur in the realm of theoretical high energy physics, where many of the most influential theories advocated by physicists lie beyond the reach of extant experimental methods, and are therefore extremely difficult to test empirically. ![]() ![]() However, as has been widely noted, the great challenges confronted by contemporary physics have led to a number of fundamental shifts in the way that physicists formulate, assess and apply their theories of the physical world. ![]()
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