This paper offers a systematic analysis of Poincare’s understanding of beauty in science. In particular, the paper examines the epistemic significance Poincare attributes to aesthetic judgement by reconstructing and analysing his arguments on simplicity and unity in science. I offer a consistent reconstruction of Poincare’s account and show that for Poincare simplicity and unity are regulative principles, linked to the aim of science—that of achieving understanding of how phenomena relate. I show how Poincare’s account of beauty in science can be incorporated within his wider philosophy of science.
['Milena Ivanova']
Poincaré’s aesthetics of science