Against Harmony: Infinite Idealizations and Causal Explanation

In Iulian D. Toader, Ilie Parvu & Gabriel Sandu (eds.), Boston Studies in the Philosophy and History of Science, vol. 313: Springer. pp. 291-301 (2015)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

This paper argues against the view that the standard explanation of phase transitions in statistical mechanics may be considered a causal explanation, a distortion that can nevertheless successfully represent causal relations.

Categories

Keywords

Reprint years

Links

PhilArchive

External links

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

Through your library

My notes

Similar books and articles

Why Is There Universal Macrobehavior? Renormalization Group Explanation as Noncausal Explanation.Alexander Reutlinger - 2014 - Philosophy of Science 81 (5):1157-1170.
Infinite Causal Chains and Explanation.Michael Rota - 2007 - Proceedings of the American Catholic Philosophical Association 81:109-122.
Causal patterns and adequate explanations.Angela Potochnik - 2015 - Philosophical Studies 172 (5):1163-1182.
Moving Beyond Causes: Optimality Models and Scientific Explanation.Collin Rice - 2013 - Noûs 49 (3):589-615.
Causal Theories of Explanation and the Challenge of Explanatory Disagreement.Lina Jansson - 2014 - Philosophy of Science 81 (3):332-348.
The causal and unification approaches to explanation unified—causally.Michael Strevens - 2004 - Noûs 38 (1):154–176.
Mental models and causal explanation: Judgements of probable cause and explanatory relevance.Denis J. Hilton - 1996 - Thinking and Reasoning 2 (4):273 – 308.
Depth: An Account of Scientific Explanation.Michael Strevens - 2008 - Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.
Two Kinds of Causal Explanation.George Botterill - 2010 - Theoria 76 (4):287-313.
Forms of causal explanation.Erik Weber, Jeroen Van Bouwel & Robrecht Vanderbeeken - 2005 - Foundations of Science 10 (4):437-454.
Expanding the Scope of Explanatory Idealization.Andrew Wayne - 2011 - Philosophy of Science 78 (5):830-841.
Explaining the emergence of cooperative phenomena.Chuang Liu - 1999 - Philosophy of Science 66 (3):106.
Explaining Causal Selection with Explanatory Causal Economy: Biology and Beyond.L. R. Franklin-Hall - 2015 - In P.-A. Braillard & C. Malaterre (eds.), Explanation in Biology: An Enquiry into the Diversity of Explanatory Patterns in the Life Sciences. Springer. pp. 413-438.
Wyjaśnić to podać model przyczynowy.Paweł Kawalec - 2004 - Roczniki Filozoficzne 52 (2):241-265.

Analytics

Added to PP
2014-12-28

Downloads
666 (#24,246)

6 months
12 (#202,587)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author's Profile

Citations of this work

Add more citations

References found in this work

The Structure of Scientific Revolutions.Thomas S. Kuhn - 1962 - Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. Edited by Ian Hacking.
The Structure of Scientific Revolutions.Thomas Samuel Kuhn - 1962 - Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Edited by Otto Neurath.
How to do things with words.John Langshaw Austin - 1962 - Oxford [Eng.]: Clarendon Press. Edited by Marina Sbisá & J. O. Urmson.
How the laws of physics lie.Nancy Cartwright - 1983 - New York: Oxford University Press.

View all 328 references / Add more references