Physical Theories and Their Social and Cultural Environment

Tihe problem of whether the cultural and social environ­ ment of natural sciences, physics in particular, can influ­ ence the structure of their theories is considered. It is ar­ gued that the structure of particular theories is often in­ fluenced by the environment however not in a direct way but through the scientific community itself in the process of its struggle to gain autonomy and respectability with; -> the outer environment. In particular, such an influence occurs whenever rival theories, empirically indistiguishable at a given time, are formulated, without regard as to whether v the scientific field in question is in a Kuhnian »crisis« or not. The mechanism whereby the scientific community homogenizes itself against the outer environment, by mak­ ing a utilitarian and pragmatistic selection among the rival theories is elaborated. The process is illustrated by the example of the wave-particle duality of light and matter.