[acqq]

Thanks Scott. I understand that phlogiston thrived until real honest scientific experiments disproved it. Thanks to which "interpretation" before that point? Can't we call it "shut up, experiment and calculate"? Or, simpler, "do the science."

[scott_s]

There was none, that I'm aware of. It was a long, drawn out affair over more than a century, as far as I know. If you're looking for a direct analog to the situation with interpreting quantum mechanics, then I'm afraid you won't find it.

The analogy I draw from it is not direct, but merely: scientists unavoidably think of their work in certain ways that are themselves not tested. This thinking influences their work.

(You've made some changes since I responded, so let me respond to your last question: No, they cannot. Just as choosing what articles goes into the newspaper makes the news inherently subjective, scientists themselves choose what problems to work on, and experiments to carry out. You want them to just "do the science," but what science? The mental framework that helps them decide what science to do is what Kuhn calls a paradigm, and my claim is that the interpretations of quantum mechanics are such a paradigm. That, then, means that the interpretations are important, even if we can't yet directly test them.)

[acqq]

Just by looking at the Wikipedia entry, it appears that Kuhn's book is more philosophical than the carefully researched history of science. How do you see it?

[scott_s]

Mostly philosophical. It's given me ways to think about how science is done in practice.