The Logical Positivism & Rational Thought-Experiments

The logical positivism emerged in the twentieth century and influenced the philosophy of science and linguistics. The logical positivist school claimed that valid sources of data are sensory experiences and empirical data alone. They demanded that scientific understanding be phrased in strict and precise linguistic formulation, and then tested to verify their scientific validity. The logical positivism approach made a clear distinction between two domains of human creativity: science, which strives to represent reality, and art, which expresses and evokes emotions. As for science, the logical positivism approach claimed that even when validating a claim through trial, one can only reach applicable certainty (which is merely partial) whereas a decisive certainty is unattainable. While trying to refute deduction we in fact perform inductive procedures. For that reason a claim must be considered as a temporary conjecture instead of as a fact. Subsequently, the logical positivism approach rejected the exclusive scientific reliance on experimenting and measurements, as well as the scientific denial of the existence of a phenomenon merely because it cannot yet be measured (Eidlin, 2011).

The philosophical criticism of the methodological exclusivity of the empiricist worldview, increased by quantum mechanics revelations, suggests that knowledge attained by empiricist procedures is confined by the technical limitations of our measurement instruments. Hence, the empiricist worldview exists only within the spectrum of measurement instruments and technological abilities. Recognition of the measurement accuracy limits was strengthened by Heisenberg's intuitive interpretation of the uncertainty principle (Beller, 1988).

Although Heisenberg did not establish these new abstract concepts in empirical experiments, they became milestones of scientific progress. Heisenberg used a thought-experiment which was followed by a complex rationalistic procedure of interpretation. This theoretical development in physics, the main stronghold of the empiricist world view, was based on an interpretive strategy. Heisenberg realized that if there were experimental limits, there must be limits to the theory as well. He validated those theoretical limits by conducting rational thought-experiments. From this example we can deduce that relying solely on one approach to knowledge is partial and insufficient, and limits our understanding of phenomena (Beller, 1988).