The explanatory virtue of abstracting away from idiosyncratic and messy detail
Philosophical Studies 173 (6):1429-1449 (2016)
| Authors |
Christopher Clarke
Cambridge University
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| Abstract |
Some explanations are relatively abstract: they abstract away from the idiosyncratic or messy details of the case in hand. The received wisdom in philosophy is that this is a virtue for any explanation to possess. I argue that the apparent consensus on this point is illusory. When philosophers make this claim, they differ on which of four alternative varieties of abstractness they have in mind. What’s more, for each variety of abstractness there are several alternative reasons to think that the variety of abstractness in question is a virtue. I identify the most promising reasons, and dismiss some others. The paper concludes by relating this discussion to the idea that explanations in biology, psychology and social science cannot be replaced by relatively micro explanations without loss of understanding.
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| Keywords | Explanation Reduction Explanatory dispensability Multiple realizability argument |
| Categories | (categorize this paper) |
| Reprint years | 2016 |
| ISBN(s) | |
| DOI | 10.1007/s11098-015-0554-6 |
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References found in this work BETA
Making Things Happen: A Theory of Causal Explanation.James Woodward - 2003 - Oxford University Press.
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Citations of this work BETA
Should Explanations Omit the Details?Darren Bradley - forthcoming - British Journal for the Philosophy of Science.
What Is Bayesian Confirmation For?Darren Bradley - 2017 - International Studies in the Philosophy of Science 31 (3):229-241.
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