DuhemQuinesatsen
DuhemQuinesatsen is a philosophical concept that combines elements of the Duhem thesis and Quine's criterion of underdetermination. The Duhem thesis, formulated by Pierre Duhem, suggests that scientific theories cannot be tested in isolation. Instead, a theory is always tested in conjunction with auxiliary hypotheses, and if an experiment yields a surprising result, it is impossible to determine whether the falsity lies with the main theory or one of the auxiliary hypotheses. W. V. O. Quine, building on this, argued that our beliefs and theories form a web or a holistic system. When faced with contradictory evidence, we can revise any part of this web to maintain consistency. This means that no single statement is immune to revision, and a theory can always be "saved" by adjusting other beliefs.
DuhemQuinesatsen, therefore, highlights the inherent difficulty in definitively falsifying scientific theories due to this interconnectedness of