"The Unity of Science as a Working Hypothesis" by Oppenheim and Putnam
E412359
"The Unity of Science as a Working Hypothesis" by Oppenheim and Putnam is a seminal mid-20th-century philosophical paper that defends the idea that all scientific disciplines can, in principle, be integrated into a single, hierarchically organized and inter-reducible system of knowledge.
All labels observed (2)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| "The Unity of Science as a Working Hypothesis" by Oppenheim and Putnam canonical | 1 |
| Unity of Science as a Working Hypothesis | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T4116107 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: "The Unity of Science as a Working Hypothesis" by Oppenheim and Putnam Context triple: [unity of science, notableWork, "The Unity of Science as a Working Hypothesis" by Oppenheim and Putnam]
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A.
The Scientific Conception of the World: The Vienna Circle
"The Scientific Conception of the World: The Vienna Circle" is a foundational manifesto that articulates the Vienna Circle’s program of scientifically oriented philosophy, emphasizing empirical verification, logical analysis, and the rejection of metaphysics.
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B.
On the Status of Science and of Metaphysics
"On the Status of Science and of Metaphysics" is a philosophical essay by Karl Popper that examines the relationship, boundaries, and methodological differences between empirical science and metaphysical speculation.
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C.
The Logic of Scientific Discovery
The Logic of Scientific Discovery is Karl Popper’s foundational philosophical work that introduces falsifiability as the key criterion distinguishing scientific theories from non-scientific ones.
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D.
“Two Dogmas of Empiricism”
“Two Dogmas of Empiricism” is a landmark philosophical essay that challenges the analytic–synthetic distinction and reductionism, reshaping 20th-century debates in epistemology and the philosophy of language.
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E.
Falsification and the Methodology of Scientific Research Programmes
Falsification and the Methodology of Scientific Research Programmes is a seminal philosophical work by Imre Lakatos that refines Karl Popper’s falsificationism by introducing the concept of competing scientific research programmes and criteria for their progressive or degenerative development.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: "The Unity of Science as a Working Hypothesis" by Oppenheim and Putnam Target entity description: "The Unity of Science as a Working Hypothesis" by Oppenheim and Putnam is a seminal mid-20th-century philosophical paper that defends the idea that all scientific disciplines can, in principle, be integrated into a single, hierarchically organized and inter-reducible system of knowledge.
-
A.
The Scientific Conception of the World: The Vienna Circle
"The Scientific Conception of the World: The Vienna Circle" is a foundational manifesto that articulates the Vienna Circle’s program of scientifically oriented philosophy, emphasizing empirical verification, logical analysis, and the rejection of metaphysics.
-
B.
On the Status of Science and of Metaphysics
"On the Status of Science and of Metaphysics" is a philosophical essay by Karl Popper that examines the relationship, boundaries, and methodological differences between empirical science and metaphysical speculation.
-
C.
The Logic of Scientific Discovery
The Logic of Scientific Discovery is Karl Popper’s foundational philosophical work that introduces falsifiability as the key criterion distinguishing scientific theories from non-scientific ones.
-
D.
“Two Dogmas of Empiricism”
“Two Dogmas of Empiricism” is a landmark philosophical essay that challenges the analytic–synthetic distinction and reductionism, reshaping 20th-century debates in epistemology and the philosophy of language.
-
E.
Falsification and the Methodology of Scientific Research Programmes
Falsification and the Methodology of Scientific Research Programmes is a seminal philosophical work by Imre Lakatos that refines Karl Popper’s falsificationism by introducing the concept of competing scientific research programmes and criteria for their progressive or degenerative development.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (39)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
academic article
ⓘ
philosophical paper ⓘ |
| addresses | relations between physical, chemical, biological, psychological, and social sciences ⓘ |
| arguesFor |
reduction of biology to chemistry
ⓘ
reduction of chemistry to physics ⓘ reduction of psychology to biology ⓘ |
| author |
Hilary Putnam
ⓘ
Paul Oppenheim ⓘ |
| characterizesUnityAs |
hierarchical
ⓘ
inter-reducible ⓘ |
| claims |
apparent disunity of sciences may be temporary and due to current limitations of knowledge
ⓘ
progress in science tends toward increasing unification of theories ⓘ |
| contrastsWith | strong anti-reductionist positions in philosophy of science ⓘ |
| defendsView |
all scientific disciplines can in principle be integrated into a single system of knowledge
ⓘ
higher-level sciences are in principle reducible to lower-level sciences ⓘ unity of science is a working hypothesis rather than an established fact ⓘ |
| emphasizes |
methodological rather than metaphysical status of unity thesis
ⓘ
tentative and revisable character of the unity hypothesis ⓘ |
| epistemicStance | unity thesis is a regulative ideal for scientific inquiry ⓘ |
| field | philosophy of science ⓘ |
| historicalContext | mid-20th-century analytic philosophy ⓘ |
| influenced |
Hilary Putnam’s subsequent work on scientific realism and reduction
ⓘ
debates about the autonomy of special sciences ⓘ later discussions of reductionism in philosophy of science ⓘ |
| language | English ⓘ |
| mainTopic |
inter-theoretic reduction
ⓘ
reductionism in science ⓘ scientific explanation ⓘ unity of science ⓘ |
| positionOnSpecialSciences | special sciences are not illusory but are in principle reducible ⓘ |
| proposes | hierarchical organization of sciences ⓘ |
| publicationYear | 1958 ⓘ |
| relatedConcept |
Nagelian reduction
ⓘ
logical positivism ⓘ
surface form:
logical empiricism
physicalism ⓘ |
| status |
seminal work in the unity of science tradition
ⓘ
widely anthologized in philosophy of science collections ⓘ |
| supportsClaim |
laws of higher-level sciences can in principle be derived from lower-level laws plus boundary conditions
ⓘ
there is a stratified order of levels of organization in nature ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
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Instruction
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Input
Subject: "The Unity of Science as a Working Hypothesis" by Oppenheim and Putnam Description of subject: "The Unity of Science as a Working Hypothesis" by Oppenheim and Putnam is a seminal mid-20th-century philosophical paper that defends the idea that all scientific disciplines can, in principle, be integrated into a single, hierarchically organized and inter-reducible system of knowledge.
Referenced by (2)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
unity of science
→
notableWork
→
"The Unity of Science as a Working Hypothesis" by Oppenheim and Putnam
ⓘ
Oppenheim and Putnam
→
notableWork
→
"The Unity of Science as a Working Hypothesis" by Oppenheim and Putnam
ⓘ
this entity surface form:
Unity of Science as a Working Hypothesis