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  1. This is a concept within the framework of the theory of scientific realism, which states that many theories confirmed by experience were based on completely unconfirmed or later refuted theories.

    A good example is the theory of the luminiferous ether, which was considered proven and generally accepted before Einstein. Almost all physics was built on the basis of it, starting with the ancient Greeks, ending with the leading scientists of the early 20th century, because almost all the theories based on it worked in practice. And when in the end the existence of the ether was refuted, all the theories built on its basis were recalculated and rechecked and still turned out to be correct.

    A simpler example: Aristotle argued that a stone thrown up accelerates as it approaches the ground, just as a traveler accelerates when approaching a house. He explained gravity by the affinity of the elements: both the stone and the earth's firmament consisted, according to his version, of one element.

    Based on this, ballistics was created, which worked very well. Even Newton, for the most part, began his study of gravitation from this theory. Despite the fact that the affinity of the elements turned out to be unscientific theorizing, gravity did not stop working and the stone continued to fall to the ground according to the same mathematical laws.

    Thus, pessimistic induction says that a). the proof of a new theory does not say anything about the proof of the theory on the basis of which it arose, b). the refutation of the basic theory does not automatically refute the theories that arose on its basis.

    In science, children are not responsible for the sins of their parents, to put it as briefly as possible))

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