The Bearing of Philosophy on the History of Science

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Abstract
There are several specific ways in which the philosophy of science is instrumental in illuminating the genesis of the conceptual innovations wrought by a particular physical theory. The unraveling of the history of Einstein''s special theory of relativity is used to maintain concretely that the philosophy of science does have far-reaching relevance to the attainment of several particular cardinal objectives of the historian of science. The development of this thesis by reference to special relativity focuses on the principle of the constancy of the speed of light and the evaluation of the charge that the Lorentz- Fitzgerald contraction hypothesis and the Lorentz-Larmor time-dilation hypothesis were severally and collectively ad hoc modifications of the other theory of light propagation.

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