Part one of term paper
The question as to whether scientific theories can be shown to be true or false is a complex one. The answer depends on one's interpretation of the meaning of theory. To what does it refer? Is its role to reveal the nature of reality, or is it merely a human construct? In which case what do we mean by truth? Is it an accurate description of r ...

Part two of term paper
... framework within which scientists work is more a matter of convention than anything else. In order to determine whether the claim that scientific theory cannot be proven true or otherwise we must first understand what Duhem means by scientific theory. He introduces two possibilities as to the nature of a physical (which we can equate to 'scientific') theory. The first being that it is an explanation of the reality lying behind a group of experimental laws (those that are empirically deter ...