On Batterman's 'On the Explanatory Role of Mathematics in Empirical Science'

British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 62 (1):211 - 217 (2011)
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Abstract

This discussion note of (Batterman [2010]) clarifies the modest aims of my 'mapping account' of applications of mathematics in science. Once these aims are clarified it becomes clear that Batterman's 'completely new approach' (Batterman [2010], p. 24) is not needed to make sense of his cases of idealized mathematical explanations. Instead, a positive proposal for the explanatory power of such cases can be reconciled with the mapping account.

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10.1093/bjps/axq025

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Christopher Pincock
Ohio State University

Citations of this work

Explanatory Abstractions.Lina Jansson & Juha Saatsi - 2019 - British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 70 (3):817–844.
Structure and applied mathematics.Travis McKenna - 2022 - Synthese 200 (5):1-31.

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On the explanatory role of mathematics in empirical science.Robert W. Batterman - 2010 - British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 61 (1):1-25.

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