Commensurability facts for kids

Commensurability is an important idea in the philosophy of science, which is like studying how science works and what makes it true. Imagine you have two different scientific ideas or theories. If you can compare them fairly to see which one is better or more correct, then they are called commensurable. But if there's no good way to compare them and decide which is right, then they are incommensurable.

This idea suggests that people can see the world in many ways. Sometimes, there isn't just one perfect way to decide which view is absolutely right. Some thinkers believe that different scientific traditions, also called paradigms, can be incommensurable. This means it might be impossible to truly say which one is correct.

Understanding Commensurability

What Does Commensurable Mean?

When two scientific ideas or theories are commensurable, it means you can compare them directly. You can use the same rules, measurements, or ways of thinking to check which one explains things better. For example, if two theories both try to explain how gravity works, and you can test them both using the same experiments, they are commensurable. You can then see which one gives more accurate results.

What Does Incommensurable Mean?

On the other hand, if two theories are incommensurable, it means they are very different. They might use different words, different ways of measuring things, or even have different basic ideas about how the world works. Because of these big differences, it becomes very hard, or even impossible, to compare them fairly. You can't easily say which one is "more right" because they are playing by different rules.

Key Thinkers on Incommensurability

Thomas Kuhn's Ideas

A famous philosopher named Thomas Kuhn talked a lot about incommensurability. He believed that when big changes happen in science, like when a whole new way of thinking takes over (a new paradigm), the world itself seems to change with it. This means that scientists working under an old paradigm might not even be able to fully understand or compare their ideas with those from a new paradigm. It's like they are speaking different scientific languages.

Paul Feyerabend's View

Another philosopher, Paul Feyerabend, also thought that incommensurability was possible in science. He said it's important to remember this. He believed it means that some ideas might not fit neatly into what we call "scientific," but that doesn't automatically make them wrong. These ideas were often discussed in response to Karl Popper's views on falsification. Popper thought that a good scientific theory should be able to be proven wrong.

Incommensurability in Daily Life

Comparing Different Ideas

The idea of incommensurability isn't just for science. You can see it in other areas too. Imagine trying to compare a painting to a song. Both are forms of art, but how do you decide which one is "better"? They are so different that a direct comparison might not make sense. They are incommensurable in a way.

An Example from a Movie

The concept of incommensurability was shown in the 2006 movie Idiocracy. In the film, a smart U.S. Army scientist named Joe Bauers tries to explain something very simple to a group of leaders. He wants to tell them that crops grow better with water, not with a sports drink. The people he's talking to live in a future where everyone is not very smart. They can't understand his logical explanation because their way of thinking is so different from his. Their ideas about how things work are incommensurable with his scientific understanding.