Summary
This paper considers the method of idealization and factualization as the main method of all advanced empirical sciences. The procedure is as follows. Some idealizing conditions are assumed: the vanishing of factors (p i=0) which never vanish in the real world. An idealization law is formulated — a law which is exactly (non-vacuously) fulfilled only in an ideal model, not in any real system. Then the idealizing assumptions are abrogated one by one-it is a process of gradual factualization, of the transition to the factual laws which are fulfilled in real systems. These laws may be directly applied and tested by experience.
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Krajewski, W. Idealization and factualization in science. Erkenntnis 11, 323–339 (1977). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00169860
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00169860