How scientific models can explain

Synthese

Volumn 180, Issue 1, 2011, Pages 33-45

  Bokulich, Alisa ^a  

^a USA   (United States)

Author keywords

Bohr's atom; Explanation; Fictions; Models; Structural explanation

Indexed keywords

EID: 79953242705     PISSN: 00397857     EISSN: 15730964     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1007/s11229-009-9565-1     Document Type: Article

References (17)

1. Batterman R. (2005) Critical phenomena and breaking drops: Infinite idealizations in physics. Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 36: 225-244.
2. Bokulich A. (2008a) Reexamining the quantum-classical relation: Beyond reductionism and pluralism. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
3. Bokulich A. (2008b) Can classical structures explain quantum phenomena? British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 59(2): 217-235.
4. Clifton, R. (1998). Scientific explanation in quantum theory. Unpublished manuscript on PhilSci Archive. http://philsci-archive. pitt. edu/archive/00000091/.
5. Craver C. (2006) When mechanistic models explain. Synthese 153: 355-376.
6. Elgin M., Sober E. (2002) Cartwright on explanation and idealization. Erkenntnis 57: 441-450.
7. Hitchcock C., Woodward J. (2003) Explanatory generalizations, Part II: Plumbing explanatory depth. Noûs 37: 181-199.
8. Hughes R. I. G. (1989) Bell's theorem, ideology, and structural explanation. In: Cushing J., McMullin E. (eds) Philosophical consequences of quantum theory: reflections on Bell's theorem. University of Notre Dame Press, Notre Dame, IN.
9. Hughes R. I. G. (1990) The Bohr atom, models, and realism. Philosophical Topics 18: 71-84.
10. McMullin, E. (1968). What do physical models tell us? In B. van Rootselaar & J. Staal (Eds.), Proceedings of the third international congress for logic, methodology and philosophy of science, Amsterdam, 1967 (pp. 385-396). Amsterdam: North Holland Publishing Co.
11. McMullin E. (1978) Structural explanation. American Philosophical Quarterly 15: 139-147.
12. McMullin E. (1984) A case for scientific realism. In: Leplin J. (eds) Scientific realism. University of California Press, Berkeley, CA, pp 8-40.
13. McMullin E. (1985) Galilean idealization. Studies in History and Philosophy of Science 16: 247-273.
14. Morrison M. (1999) Models as autonomous agents. In: Morgan M., Morrison M. (eds) Models as mediators: Perspectives on natural and social science. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 38-65.
15. Railton, P. (1980). Explaining explanation: A realist account of scientific explanation and understanding. Ph. D. Dissertation, Princeton University.
16. Wimsatt W. W. (1987) False models as means to truer theories. In: Nitecki M., Hoffman A. (eds) Neutral models in biology. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
17. Woodward J. (2003) Making things happen: A theory of causal explanation. Oxford University Press, Oxford.