We employ a pragmatic model of inquiry to distinguish the epistemological character of exploratory experimentation. Exploratory experimentation is not constituted by any intrinsic characteristics of an episode of experimentation but depends on the context and aims of the experiment and the ways in which these shape decisions about how the experimental inquiry is to be conducted: its tasks, resources, and aims, as well as the critical assessment of all of these. To demonstrate the usefulness of our pragmatist model, we apply it to the contrast between two kinds of searches for new physics at the Large Hadron Collider. Some searches are exploratory while others target specific Beyond Standard Model hypotheses, but this contrast can be understood only by considering the relations between these searches, their aims, and the way that these aims shape their respective experimental parameters and procedures. Our approach provides a model for establishing the epistemological significance of details of experimental practice.

我们采用实用主义的探究模型来区分探索性实验的认识论特征。探索性实验不是由实验情节的任何内在特征构成的，而是取决于实验的背景和目标，以及这些影响如何进行实验调查的决策的方式：其任务、资源和目标，以及对所有这些的批判性评估。为了证明我们的实用主义模型的有用性，我们将其应用于大型强子对撞机中两种新物理学搜索之间的对比。一些搜索是探索性的，而另一些则针对特定的超越标准模型假设，但只有通过考虑这些搜索之间的关系、它们的目标以及这些目标塑造各自的实验参数和程序的方式才能理解这种对比。我们的方法为确定实验实践细节的认识论意义提供了一个模型。