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Idealization, explanation and fiction.

Levy, Arnon.

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Idealization, explanation and fiction.

Record Type:	Language materials, printed : Monograph/item
Title/Author:	Idealization, explanation and fiction./
Author:	Levy, Arnon.
Description:	185 p.
Notes:	Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 71-07, Section: A, page: 2494.
Contained By:	Dissertation Abstracts International71-07A.
Subject:	Philosophy of Science. -
Online resource:	http://pqdd.sinica.edu.tw/twdaoapp/servlet/advanced?query=3414840
ISBN:	9781124081595

Idealization, explanation and fiction.
Levy, Arnon.

Idealization, explanation and fiction. - 185 p.

Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 71-07, Section: A, page: 2494.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Harvard University, 2010.

Scientific modelling often strays deliberately from the truth---appealing to such devices as idealization and metaphor. " Idealization, Explanation and Fiction" explores the scientific practice of explanation via non-veridical representation. I offer a general treatment of model-based explanation, and several case studies from biology.

ISBN: 9781124081595Subjects--Topical Terms:

894954
Philosophy of Science.

Idealization, explanation and fiction.
LDR:02518nam 2200289 4500 001 1394565
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020 $a 9781124081595
035 $a (UMI)AAI3414840
035 $a AAI3414840
040 $a UMI $c UMI
100 1 $a Levy, Arnon. $3 1673194
245 1 0 $a Idealization, explanation and fiction.
300 $a 185 p.
500 $a Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 71-07, Section: A, page: 2494.
500 $a Adviser: Peter Godfrey-Smith.
502 $a Thesis (Ph.D.)--Harvard University, 2010.
520 $a Scientific modelling often strays deliberately from the truth---appealing to such devices as idealization and metaphor. " Idealization, Explanation and Fiction" explores the scientific practice of explanation via non-veridical representation. I offer a general treatment of model-based explanation, and several case studies from biology.
520 $a My perspective emphasizes the underlying goal of understanding. I argue for a conception of explanation on which two sorts of factors affect explanatory "goodness"---causal content and representational organization. This two-dimensional conception accounts for the function of idealization, and can be extended to metaphors.
520 $a The concomitant exploration of case studies is geared towards showing how non-veridical representations contribute to scientific understanding, while also pointing to their potential to mislead. In putting forward the two-dimensional view I look at a model of the dynamics of HIV/AIDS. In it, a sacrifice of causal content permits the model to make important factors salient, and to unify a range of phenomena. I argue that this is a feature of idealization more generally. A second case study targets the concept of information in biology. I propose that informational notions are metaphors, albeit explanatory ones, allowing biologists to better represent mechanisms of regulation and control. Thirdly, I discuss game theoretic explanations of the evolution of morality. Here idealizing assumptions have unjustifiably dominated the development of the models. I argue that in modelling the evolution of morality conceptual progress has been confused for empirically grounded understanding.
590 $a School code: 0084.
650 4 $a Philosophy of Science. $3 894954
690 $a 0402
710 2 $a Harvard University. $3 528741
773 0 $t Dissertation Abstracts International $g 71-07A.
790 1 0 $a Godfrey-Smith, Peter, $e advisor
790 $a 0084
791 $a Ph.D.
792 $a 2010
856 4 0 $u http://pqdd.sinica.edu.tw/twdaoapp/servlet/advanced?query=3414840