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How Theory-Laden Are Observations of Black Holes?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 March 2025

Juliusz Doboszewski Open the ORCID record for Juliusz Doboszewski [Opens in a new window]  and
Jamee Elder Open the ORCID record for Jamee Elder [Opens in a new window]
Juliusz Doboszewski
Affiliation:
Black Hole Initiative, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
Jamee Elder*
Affiliation:
Black Hole Initiative, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA Department of Philosophy, Tufts University, Medford, MA, USA
*
Corresponding author: Jamee Elder; Email: jamee.elder@tufts.edu
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Abstract

We evaluate the roles general relativistic assumptions play in simulations used in recent observations of black holes including with LIGO-Virgo and the Event Horizon Telescope. In both experiments, simulations play an ampliative role, enabling the extraction of more information from the data than would be possible otherwise. This comes at a cost of theory-ladenness. We discuss the issue of inferential circularity, which arises in some applications; classify some of the epistemic strategies used to reduce the extent of theory-ladenness; and discuss ways in which these strategies are model independent.

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Philosophy of Science , Volume 92 , Issue 4 , October 2025 , pp. 827 - 849
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2025. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Philosophy of Science Association

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Footnotes

†

Authors contributed equally.

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