Point-particle explanations: the case of gravitational waves.
This paper explores the role of physically impossible idealizations in model-based explanation. We do this by examining the explanation of gravitational waves from distant stellar objects using models that contain point-particle idealizations. Like infinite idealizations in thermodynamics, biology a...
| Publicado en: | Synthese Vol. 196; no. 5; pp. 1809 - 1830 |
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| Formato: | Artículo |
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Springer Nature
May2019
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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=136187050&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: hlh uiTerm: 136187050 longDbName: Humanities International Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 00397857 4LI jtl: Synthese issn: 00397857 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: May2019 vid: 196 iid: 5 pid: 237 pub: Springer Nature artinfo: ui: 136187050 10.1007/s11229-017-1638-y ppf: 1809 ppct: 21 formats: fmt: – @attributes: type: T – @attributes: type: P size: 739KB tig: atl: Point-particle explanations: the case of gravitational waves. aug: au: Wayne, Andrew affil: Department of Philosophy, University of Guelph, N1G 2C5, Guelph, ON, Canada su: Gravitational waves Physics Relativity (Physics) Thermodynamics Biology sug: subj: Gravitational waves Physics Relativity (Physics) Thermodynamics Biology keyword: General theory of relativity Idealization Models Scientific explanation ab: This paper explores the role of physically impossible idealizations in model-based explanation. We do this by examining the explanation of gravitational waves from distant stellar objects using models that contain point-particle idealizations. Like infinite idealizations in thermodynamics, biology and economics, the point-particle idealization in general relativity is physically impossible. What makes this case interesting is that there are two very different kinds of models used for predicting the same gravitational wave phenomena, post-Newtonian models and effective field theory models. The paper contends that post-Newtonian models are explanatory while effective field theory models are not, because only in the former can we eliminate the physically impossible point-particle idealization. This suggests that, in some areas of science at least, models invoking ineliminable infinite idealizations cannot have explanatory power. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: Y custom: Synthese is a copyright of Springer, 2019. All Rights Reserved. item: Synthese holder: Springer Nature dt: @attributes: year: 2019 holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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