Parsimony and inference to the best mathematical explanation.
Indispensability-based arguments for mathematical platonism are typically motivated by drawing an analogy between abstract mathematical objects and concrete scientific posits. In this paper, I argue that mathematics can sometimes help to reduce our concrete ontological, ideological, and structural c...
| Publicado en: | Synthese Vol. 193; no. 2; pp. 333 - 351 |
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| Formato: | Artículo |
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Springer Nature
Feb2016
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| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hlh&AN=112901024&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: hlh uiTerm: 112901024 longDbName: Humanities International Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 00397857 4LI jtl: Synthese issn: 00397857 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Feb2016 vid: 193 iid: 2 pid: 237 pub: Springer Nature artinfo: ui: 112901024 10.1007/s11229-015-0723-3 ppf: 333 ppct: 18 formats: fmt: @attributes: type: P size: 435KB tig: atl: Parsimony and inference to the best mathematical explanation. aug: au: Baker, Alan affil: Department of Philosophy, Swarthmore College, 500 College Ave Swarthmore 19081 USA su: Parsimonious models Philosophy of mathematics Platonists Nominalism Ontology sug: subj: Parsimonious models Philosophy of mathematics Platonists Nominalism Ontology keyword: Indispensability Mathematical explanation Parsimony Periodical cicadas Platonism ab: Indispensability-based arguments for mathematical platonism are typically motivated by drawing an analogy between abstract mathematical objects and concrete scientific posits. In this paper, I argue that mathematics can sometimes help to reduce our concrete ontological, ideological, and structural commitments. My focus is on optimization explanations, and in particular the case study involving periodical cicadas. I argue that in this case, stronger mathematical apparatus yields explanations that have fewer concrete commitments. The nominalist cannot accept these more parsimonious explanations without embracing the stronger mathematics, and this poses a challenge for the nominalist position. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: Y custom: Synthese is a copyright of Springer, 2016. All Rights Reserved. item: Synthese holder: Springer Nature dt: @attributes: year: 2016 holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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