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- Rasmus Grønfeldt Winther (forthcoming). Part-Whole Science. Synthese.A scientific explanatory project, part-whole explanation , and a kind of science, part-whole science are premised on identifying, investigating, and using parts and wholes. In the biological sciences, mechanistic, structuralist, and historical explanations are part-whole explanations. Each expresses different norms, explananda, and aims. Each is associated with a distinct partitioning frame for abstracting kinds of parts. These three explanatory projects can be complemented in order to provide an integrative vision of the whole system, as is shown for a detailed case study: the tetrapod limb. My diagnosis of part-whole explanation in the biological sciences as well as in other domains exploring evolved, complex, and integrated systems (e.g., psychology and cognitive science) cross-cuts standard philosophical categories of explanation: causal explanation and explanation as unification. Part-whole explanation is itself one essential aspect of part-whole science.No categoriesIn my reading list | Discuss this article | Edit | Categorize |My bibliography
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Introduction -- Part I: Evidence and induction -- Concepts of evidence -- Why philosophical theories of evidence are (and ought to be) ignored by scientests -- The grue paradox -- The war on induction -- Waves and the scientific method -- Part II: Explanation -- An illocutionary theory of explanation -- The pragmatic character of explanation -- Can there be a model of explanation? -- Explanation vs. prediction : which carries more weight? -- Function statements -- Part III: Realism, molecules, (...)
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