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SCIENCE STUDIES EVENTS
A STRUCTURAL PERSPECTIVE ON THEORETICAL EXPLANATION
Alirio Rosales
School of Philosophy
Central University of Venezuela
November 15, 2002
Friday, 12:30pm
Preston Seminar Room
The problem of theoretical explanation is the problem of understanding how
is it that mathematically formulated theories in diverse scientific fields
enter into genuine explanatory practices. The problem at hand has always
been one of coming to terms with the philosophical challenge of accounting
for the way in which explanations are deployed via mathematical structures.
All along, there is not only mathematics but also the exercise of what
Roberto Torretti has termed "creative understanding". The present paper is
a preliminary attempt to explore what I perceive as an emerging view in the
philosophy of science according to which theoretical explanation consists
basically in the construction of models. Very recently, in an unpublished
paper, the (sadly) late Rob Clifton, expressed the view I am to pursue by
saying that "we will have to take seriously the idea that locating
phenomena within a coherent and unified mathematical model is explanatory
in itself." The challenge is then one of coming to terms with the problem
of how models can be explanatory.
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