Avril Styrman: Unifying power as a quantitative criterion for fundamental physical theories

Avril Styrman
Department of Philosophy, History and Art Studies, University of Helsinki, Finland

Avril Styrman (University of Helsinki) - PhilPeople

Abstract

The systematization of evaluation criteria for scientific theories, also known as theoretical virtues, aims to enhance understanding and objectivity in theory evaluation, and thereby to facilitate consensus formation. Explanatory virtues play a crucial role here. They are well known individually, but lack a widely accepted organization, especially with regard to how simplicity integrates with the other explanatory virtues. In this speech, I introduce a unificatory model of virtues (UM), in which simplicity is integrated in a way that yields a concise hierarchical organization of the explanatory virtues (Styrman 2026). In UM, a theory’s accuracy, explanatory depth, internal consistency, and ontological simplicity are components of its unifying power, while its consistency and explanatory relations with other theories are components of both its external coherence and the unifying power of the set of theories under consideration. I illustrate by examples how unifying power can be applied quantitatively in assessing the evolution of physical theories over time. I also illustrate how the virtues listed by Douglas (2013) and classified by Hvorecký and Miłkowski (2024) in the below graph are interrelated and organized in UM.

Douglas, H. E. (2013). The Value of Cognitive Values. Philosophy of Science, 80(5), 796–806. https://doi.org/10.1086/673716
Miłkowski, M., Hvorecký, J. (2024). Theoretical Virtues of Cognitive Extension. In: Alexandre e Castro, P. (eds) Challenges of the Technological Mind. New Directions in Philosophy and Cognitive Science. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-55333-2_7
Styrman, A. Unity and Coherence in Explanatory Virtues. Found Sci (2026). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10699-026-10035-6