Wesley salmon's complementarity thesis: Causalism and unificationism reconciled?
International Studies in the Philosophy of Science 20 (2):129 – 147 (2006)
| Abstract | In his later years, Wesley Salmon believed that the two dominant models of scientific explanation (his own causal-mechanical model and the unificationist model) were reconcilable. Salmon envisaged a 'new consensus' about explanation: he suggested that the two models represent two 'complementary' types of explanation, which may 'peacefully coexist' because they illuminate different aspects of scientific understanding. This paper traces the development of Salmon's ideas and presents a critical analysis of his complementarity thesis. Salmon's thesis is rejected on the basis of two objections, and an alternative view of the relation between different types of explanation is proposed. | |||||||||
| 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: 5,631 |
| External links |
 |
| Through your library | Configure |
Similar books and articlesChristopher Read Hitchcock (1995). Salmon on Explanatory Relevance. Philosophy of Science 62 (2):304-320.
Paul Humphreys (2004). Some Thoughts on Wesley Salmon's Contributions to the Philosophy of Probability. Philosophy of Science 71 (5):942-949.
Wesley C. Salmon (1984). 3. In Scientific Explanation and the Causal Structure of the World. Princeton University Press.
Joseph F. Hanna (1986). Objective Homogeneity Relativized. PSA: Proceedings of the Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association 1986:422 - 431.
Wesley Salmon (1984). Scientific Explanation and the Causal Structure of the World. Princeton University Press.
Wesley C. Salmon (2005). Reality and Rationality. Oxford University Press.
Phil Dowe (1992). Wesley Salmon's Process Theory of Causality and the Conserved Quantity Theory. Philosophy of Science 59 (2):195-216.
Michael Bradie (1996). Ontic Realism and Scientific Explanation. Philosophy of Science 63 (3):321.
Wesley C. Salmon (1971). Statistical Explanation & Statistical Relevance. [Pittsburgh]University of Pittsburgh Press.
Analytics
Monthly downloads |
Added to index2009-01-28Total downloads15 ( #78,526 of 548,973 )Recent downloads (6 months)1 ( #63,511 of 548,973 )How can I increase my downloads? |
My notes
Discussion
