The structure of asymptotic idealization

Synthese 196 (5):1713-1731 (2019)
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Abstract

Robert Batterman and others have argued that certain idealizing explanations have an asymptotic form: they account for a state of affairs or behavior by showing that it emerges “in the limit”. Asymptotic idealizations are interesting in many ways, but is there anything special about them as idealizations? To understand their role in science, must we augment our philosophical theories of idealization? This paper uses simple examples of asymptotic idealization in population genetics to argue for an affirmative answer and proposes a general schema for asymptotic idealization, drawing on insights from Batterman’s treatment and from John Norton’s subsequent critique.

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Michael Strevens
New York University

Citations of this work

Similarity Structure and Emergent Properties.Samuel C. Fletcher - 2020 - Philosophy of Science 87 (2):281-301.
Permissible idealizations for the purpose of prediction.Michael Strevens - 2021 - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 85:92-100.
Regulative Idealization: A Kantian Approach to Idealized Models.Lorenzo Spagnesi - 2023 - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 99 (C):1-9.

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References found in this work

Depth: An Account of Scientific Explanation.Michael Strevens - 2008 - Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.
Idealization and the Aims of Science.Angela Potochnik - 2017 - Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Mathematics and Scientific Representation.Christopher Pincock - 2012 - Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press USA.

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