Abstract

Theories on the Solar System formation have a long, centuries-old history. Starting with Descartes, going on to the works of Kant and Laplace, several natural philosophers and scientists have proposed theories that tried to explain the origin of the system from an initial primordial state moving forward to the features currently observed. In the second half of the 20th century the question began to be inquired by a growing specialized scientific community. A scientific consensus began to be formed in the last decades of this period, becoming even more cohesive in the 21st century, around the conception that planets are by-products of the formation of the Sun and that the process of planetary formation takes place in a circumstellar disc (protoplanetary), a natural consequence of the formation of stars. However, despite many advances in solving specific problems, the area has not yet reached a consistent theory about the formation of planetary systems. I draw philosophical reflections on the historical development of this field of scientific inquiry. Relevant philosophical takings on the problem of scientific progress are considered, mainly the classical metatheoretical proposals of Thomas Kuhn, Imre Lakatos and Larry Laudan, as well as the more recent contributions of Alan Chalmers and Susan Haack. Although the history of cosmogony is filled with theoretical dead-ends and ruptures, clues of scientific progress can be identified, especially on the last decades of the 20th century. This assessment of scientific progress in the area is formulated in opposition to the skeptical view proposed in the mid-1990s by the main historian of the topic, Stephen G. Brush.