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Francesco Nappo [11]Francesco Https://Orcidorg Nappo [1]
  1.  72
    Confirmation by analogy.Francesco Nappo - 2022 - Synthese 200 (1):1-26.
    This paper proposes a framework for representing in Bayesian terms the idea that analogical arguments of various degrees of strength may provide inductive support to yet untested scientific hypotheses. On this account, contextual information plays a crucial role in determining whether, and to what extent, a given similarity or dissimilarity between source and target may confirm an empirical hypothesis over a rival one. In addition to showing confirmation by analogy compatible with the adoption of a Bayesian standpoint, the proposal outlined (...)
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  2.  39
    Learning from Non-Causal Models.Francesco Nappo - 2020 - Erkenntnis 87 (5):2419-2439.
    This paper defends the thesis of learning from non-causal models: viz. that the study of some model can prompt justified changes in one’s confidence in empirical hypotheses about a real-world target in the absence of any known or predicted similarity between model and target with regards to their causal features. Recognizing that we can learn from non-causal models matters not only to our understanding of past scientific achievements, but also to contemporary debates in the philosophy of science. At one end (...)
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  3.  57
    Reasoning by Analogy in Mathematical Practice.Francesco Nappo & Nicolò Cangiotti - 2023 - Philosophia Mathematica 31 (2):176-215.
    In this paper, we offer a descriptive theory of analogical reasoning in mathematics, stating general conditions under which an analogy may provide genuine inductive support to a mathematical conjecture (over and above fulfilling the merely heuristic role of ‘suggesting’ a conjecture in the psychological sense). The proposed conditions generalize the criteria of Hesse in her influential work on analogical reasoning in the empirical sciences. By reference to several case studies, we argue that the account proposed in this paper does a (...)
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  4.  25
    How I Would have been Differently Treated. Discrimination Through the Lens of Counterfactual Fairness.Michele Https://Orcidorg Loi, Francesco Https://Orcidorg Nappo & Eleonora Https://Orcidorg Vigano - 2023 - Res Publica 29 (2):185-211.
    The widespread use of algorithms for prediction-based decisions urges us to consider the question of what it means for a given act or practice to be discriminatory. Building upon work by Kusner and colleagues in the field of machine learning, we propose a counterfactual condition as a necessary requirement on discrimination. To demonstrate the philosophical relevance of the proposed condition, we consider two prominent accounts of discrimination in the recent literature, by Lippert-Rasmussen and Hellman respectively, that do not logically imply (...)
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  5.  34
    Close encounters with scientific analogies of the third kind.Francesco Nappo - 2021 - European Journal for Philosophy of Science 11 (3):1-20.
    Arguments from non-causal analogy form a distinctive class of analogical arguments in science not recognized in authoritative classifications by, e.g., Hesse and Bartha. In this paper, I illustrate this novel class of scientific analogies by means of historical examples from physics, biology and economics, at the same time emphasizing their broader significance for contemporary debates in epistemology.
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  6.  5
    Tales of twin cities: what are climate analogues good for?Giovanni Valente, Hernán Bobadilla, Rawad El Skaf & Francesco Nappo - 2024 - European Journal for Philosophy of Science 14 (3):1-28.
    This article provides an epistemological assessment of climate analogue methods, with specific reference to the use of spatial analogues in the study of the future climate of target locations. Our contention is that, due to formal and conceptual inadequacies of geometrical dissimilarity metrics and the loss of relevant information, especially when reasoning from the physical to the socio-economical level, purported inferences from climate analogues of the spatial kind we consider here prove limited in a number of ways. Indeed, we formulate (...)
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  7.  38
    Confirming Mathematical Conjectures by Analogy.Francesco Nappo, Nicolò Cangiotti & Caterina Sisti - 2024 - Erkenntnis 89 (6):2493-2519.
    Analogy has received attention as a form of inductive reasoning in the empirical sciences. Its role in mathematics has, instead, received less consideration. This paper provides a novel account of how an analogy with a more familiar mathematical domain can contribute to the confirmation of a mathematical conjecture. By reference to case-studies, we propose a distinction between an _incremental_ and a _non-incremental_ form of confirmation by mathematical analogy. We offer an account of the former within the popular framework of Bayesian (...)
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  8.  39
    Evidence and analogy in Archaeoastronomy.Francesco Nappo, Giulio Magli & Giovanni Valente - 2022 - Synthese 200 (6):1-25.
    This paper addresses the role of analogical reasoning in archaeoastronomy - the discipline which studies the connections between the ancient monuments and the heavens. Archaeoastronomy is a highly interdisciplinary science, placed at the border between the humanities – especially archaeology – and the scientific approach to cultural heritage. As a consequence, its scientific foundations are a delicate matter. We plan to investigate here the question of what constitutes the evidence for analogical inferences in archaeoastronomy and to what extent one can (...)
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  9.  3
    Correction to: Tales of twin cities: what are climate analogues good for?Giovanni Valente, Hernán Bobadilla, Rawad El Skaf & Francesco Nappo - 2024 - European Journal for Philosophy of Science 14 (3):1-2.
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  10.  26
    The Double Nature of Maxwell's Physical Analogies.Francesco Nappo - 2021 - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 89 (C):212-225.
    Building upon work by Mary Hesse (1974), this paper aims to show that a single method of investigation lies behind Maxwell’s use of physical analogies in his major scientific works before the Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism. Key to understanding the operation of this method is to recognize that Maxwell’s physical analogies are intended to possess an ‘inductive’ function in addition to an ‘illustrative’ one. That is to say, they not only serve to clarify the equations proposed for an unfamiliar (...)
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  11.  26
    Foundational issues in the metaphysics of David Lewis.Francesco Nappo - unknown
    Few contributions in the field of metaphysics can be compared, for their depth and impact, to the work of the American philosopher David K. Lewis. A feature of this work, which partly explain its great appeal, is its systematicity. Lewis’s views on intrinsicality, naturalness, supervenience, mind and modality, to mention just a few themes, constitute a unified and connected body of doctrines. As Lewis himself acknowledged in the introduction to the first volume of collected papers: “I should have liked to (...)
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  12.  43
    Book Review of Hon and Goldstein's "Reflections on the Practice of Physics". [REVIEW]Francesco Nappo - 2022 - The BJPS Review of Books.
    Reflections on the Practice of Physics has two admirable aims: on one hand, to contribute to a comprehensive historical understanding of Maxwell’s approach to physical inquiry; on the other, to extract philosophical lessons from the story of Maxwell’s astounding scientific breakthroughs. In line with an established tradition in scholarship (for example, Achinstein [1991]; Siegel [1991]; Harman [1998]), the authors defend the view that the method of ‘physical analogy’ that Maxwell first presented in the introductory section of his ‘On Faraday’s Lines (...)
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