The limits of exact science, from economics to physics
Perspectives on Science 7 (3):318-336 (1999)
| Abstract | : The idea of an exact science unified and complete has been advocated throughout the history of thought, but the sciences continue to cover only small patches of the world we live in. We may dream that the exact sciences will some day cover everything. But I argue that the very ways we do our exact sciences when they are most successfully done seems likely to confine them within limited domains. I discuss three cases to illustrate: the use of broad-scale non-experimental statistics for causal modelling across the social sciences, an economic model on skill-loss during unemployment, and the quantum theory of superconductivity. In all cases, where we can expect exact order depends on where we can fit our models. And by the nature of how models do-and should-get constructed in exact science, they fit readily onto only very special bits of the world around us. I also maintain that an ill-supported belief in the universality of our favourite exact science can lead us to adopt bad methodologies for carrying out the central aim of the sciences, namely to make the world the way it ought to be | |||||||||
| Keywords | No keywords specified (fix it) | |||||||||
| Categories | ||||||||||
| Options |
|
|||||||||
Download options| PhilPapers Archive |
Upload a copy of this paper Check publisher's policy on self-archival Papers currently archived: 5,664 |
| External links |
  Try with proxy. |
| Through your library | Configure |
Similar books and articlesAttila Grandpierre (2011). The Biological Principle of Natural Sciences and the Logos of Life of Natural Philosophy: A Comparison and the Perspectives of Unifying the Science and Philosophy of Life. Analecta Husserliana 110 (Part II):711-727.
Stefan Dragulinescu (2012). The Problem of Processes and Transitions: Are Diseases Phase Kinds? Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy 15 (1):79-89.
Axel Gelfert (2005). Mathematical Rigor in Physics: Putting Exact Results in Their Place. Philosophy of Science 72 (5):723-738.
P. Martin-Löf (1977). Exact Tests, Confidence Regions and Estimates. Synthese 36 (2):195 - 206.
Véronique Izard, Pierre Pica, Elizabeth S. Spelke & Stanislas Dehaene (2008). Exact Equality and Successor Function: Two Key Concepts on the Path Towards Understanding Exact Numbers. Philosophical Psychology 21 (4):491 – 505.
R. K. Tavakol (1991). Fragility and Deterministic Modelling in the Exact Sciences. British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 42 (2):147-156.
Stefan Dragulinescu (2010). Diseases as Natural Kinds. Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics 31 (5):347-369.
Analytics
Monthly downloads |
Added to index2009-01-28Total downloads26 ( #47,590 of 549,010 )Recent downloads (6 months)3 ( #25,706 of 549,010 )How can I increase my downloads? |
My notes
Discussion
