A philosophical explanation of the explanatory functions of ergodic theory

Philosophy of Science 45 (1):47-59 (1978)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

The purported failures of ergodic theory (seen in its often proved ineptitude to ground a mechanical explanation of thermodynamics) are shown to arise from misconception of the functions served by scientific explanation. In fact, the predictive failures of ergodic theory are precisely its points of greatest physical utility, where genuinely new knowledge about actual physical systems can be obtained, once the links between explanation and reconstructive estimation are recognized

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 90,593

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Analytics

Added to PP
2009-01-28

Downloads
214 (#86,221)

6 months
1 (#1,040,386)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

References found in this work

No references found.

Add more references