![cover image](https://wikiwandv2-19431.kxcdn.com/_next/image?url=https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/17/Galileantelescope_2.png/640px-Galileantelescope_2.png&w=640&q=50)
Duhem–Quine thesis
Principle in the philosophy of science / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In philosophy of science, the Duhem–Quine thesis, also called the Duhem–Quine problem, posits that it is impossible to experimentally test a scientific hypothesis in isolation, because an empirical test of the hypothesis requires one or more background assumptions (also called auxiliary assumptions or auxiliary hypotheses): the thesis says that unambiguous scientific falsifications are impossible.[1] It is named after French theoretical physicist Pierre Duhem and American logician Willard Van Orman Quine, who wrote about similar concepts.
![]() | This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. (January 2022) |
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/db/Shish0r_-_JovianLabbeled_%28by-sa%29.jpg/640px-Shish0r_-_JovianLabbeled_%28by-sa%29.jpg)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/17/Galileantelescope_2.png/640px-Galileantelescope_2.png)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a4/Sidereus_Nuncius_sickle_moon.jpg/640px-Sidereus_Nuncius_sickle_moon.jpg)
In recent decades, the set of associated assumptions supporting a thesis sometimes is called a bundle of hypotheses. Although a bundle of hypotheses (i.e. a hypothesis and its background assumptions) as a whole can be tested against the empirical world and be falsified if it fails the test, the Duhem–Quine thesis says it is impossible to isolate a single hypothesis in the bundle, a viewpoint called confirmation holism.