There Are No Such Things as Theories

Abstract

Steven French’s new book is a bold and ambitious look at the question of what sorts of things scientific theories are—or rather, what they are not. For the purposes of this review, I’ll treat the book as divided into four parts, although many themes and ideas recur and re-emerge throughout. The first part (Chapters 1–2) concerns the structure of theories; the second (Chapter 3) concerns the representational character of theories; the third part (Chapters 4–6) considers the ontological status of theories; and the final part (Chapters 7–9) outlines and defends French’s positive thesis, that (as per the title) there are no such things as theories. I’ll say a little about each of the first two parts, and then discuss the third and fourth parts together.