Expanding the Scope of Explanatory Idealization

old_uid8473
titleExpanding the Scope of Explanatory Idealization
start_date2010/03/30
schedule11h-13h
onlineno
summaryMany explanations in physics rely on idealized models of physical systems. These explanations fail to satisfy the conditions of standard normative accounts of explanation. Recently, some philosophers have claimed that idealizations can be used to underwrite explanation nonetheless, but only when they are what have variously been called representational, Galilean, controllable or harmless idealizations. This paper argues that such a half-measure is untenable and that idealizations not of this sort can have explanatory capacities.
responsiblesBarberousse, Tessier Cardon