Plausibility and the Evaluation of Knowledge: A Case-Study of Experimental Quantum Mechanics

Abstract

This paper describes a recent series of experimental tests of Quantum Mechanics, and examines the way in which various knowledge-claims were evaluated. In each case, it is argued that an agreed evaluation was only possible because of the shared culture of the physicists involved. The concept of plausibility is introduced as a way of characterizing the role of the social and cultural context in the evaluation of knowledge. This concept may be useful In clarifying the relationship between relativism and empiricism.