Scientific representation and nominalism: an empiricist view
نویسندگان
چکیده
منابع مشابه
Scientific Representation and Nominalism : an Empiricist View
Can a constructive empiricist make sense of scientific representation? Usually, a scientific model is an abstract entity (e.g., formulated in set theory), and scientific representation is conceptualized as an intentional relation between scientific models and certain aspects of the world. On this conception, since both the models and the representation relation are abstract, a constructive empi...
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The Quine-Putnam Indispensability argument is the argument for treating mathematical entities on a par with other theoretical entities of our best scientific theories. This argument is usually taken to be an argument for mathematical realism. In this chapter I will argue that the proper way to understand this argument is as putting pressure on the viability of the marriage of scientific realism...
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It is now part and parcel of the official philosophical wisdom that models are essential to the acquisition and organisation of scientific knowledge. It is also generally accepted that most models represent their target systems in one way or another. But what does it mean for a model to represent its target system? I begin by introducing three conundrums that a theory of scientific representati...
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In this paper, I provide an easy road to nominalism which does not rely on a Field-type nominalization strategy for mathematics (Field 1980). According to this proposal, applications of mathematics to science, and alleged mathematical explanations of physical phenomena, only emerge when suitable physical interpretations of the mathematical formalism are advanced. And since these interpretations...
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When we use scientific propositions, in order to describe phenomena and organize our knowledge about the physical world, we use terms that do not refer to observable entities. So as to explain chemical reactions, we would refer to atoms or electrons, that we cannot see directly. And even such a familiar concept as the one of mass is not observable, in the sense that it cannot be in all cases, i...
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ژورنال
عنوان ژورنال: Principia: an international journal of epistemology
سال: 2008
ISSN: 1808-1711,1414-4247
DOI: 10.5007/1808-1711.2008v12n2p177