The Duhem-Quine thesis and the dark matter problem
  There are few opportunities in introductory physics for a genuine discussion
of the philosophy of science, especially in cases where the physical principles
are straightforward and the mathematics is simple. Terrestrial classical
mechanics satisfies these requirements, but students new to physics usually
carry too many incorrect or misleading preconceptions about the subject for it
to be analyzed epistemologically. The problem of dark matter, and especially
the physics of spiral galaxy velocity rotation curves, is a straightforward
application of Newton's laws of motion and gravitation, and is just enough
removed from everyday experience to be analyzed from a fresh perspective. It is
proposed to teach students about important issues in the philosophy of physics,
including Bacon's induction, Popper's falsifiability, and the Duhem-Quine
thesis, all in light of the dark matter problem. These issues can be discussed
in an advanced classical mechanics course, or, with limited simplification, at
the end of a first course in introductory mechanics. The goal is for students
to understand at a deeper level how the physics community has arrived at the
current state of knowledge.
