Calculus and counterpossibles in science.
A mathematical model in science can be formulated as a counterfactual conditional, with the model's assumptions in the antecedent and its predictions in the consequent. Interestingly, some of these models appear to have assumptions that are metaphysically impossible. Consider models in ecology that...
| Publicado en: | Synthese Vol. 198; no. 12; pp. 12153 - 12175 |
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| Formato: | Artículo |
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Springer Nature
Dec2021
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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=152624534&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: hlh uiTerm: 152624534 longDbName: Humanities International Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 00397857 4LI jtl: Synthese issn: 00397857 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Dec2021 vid: 198 iid: 12 pid: 237 pub: Springer Nature artinfo: ui: 152624534 10.1007/s11229-020-02855-1 ppf: 12153 ppct: 22 formats: fmt: @attributes: type: P size: 338KB tig: atl: Calculus and counterpossibles in science. aug: au: McLoone, Brian affil: School of Philosophy, Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russia su: Counterfactuals (Logic) Calculus Lotka-Volterra equations Differential equations Scientific models Mathematical models sug: subj: Counterfactuals (Logic) Calculus Lotka-Volterra equations Differential equations Scientific models Mathematical models keyword: Counterfactual semantics Counterpossibles in science Hyperintensionality Idealized models Impossible worlds ab: A mathematical model in science can be formulated as a counterfactual conditional, with the model's assumptions in the antecedent and its predictions in the consequent. Interestingly, some of these models appear to have assumptions that are metaphysically impossible. Consider models in ecology that use differential equations to track the dynamics of some population of organisms. For the math to work, the model must assume that population size is a continuous quantity, despite that many organisms (e.g., rabbits) are necessarily discrete. This means our counterfactual representation of the model can have an impossible antecedent, giving us a counterpossible. Analogous counterpossibles arise in other sciences, as we'll see. According to a prominent view in counterfactual semantics, the vacuity thesis, all counterpossibles are vacuously true, that is, true merely because their antecedents are necessarily false. But some counterpossible formulations of differential equation models in science are not all vacuously true—some are non-vacuously true, and some are false. I go on to show how an alternative semantics, one that employs impossible worlds, can deliver this judgment. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: Y custom: Synthese is a copyright of Springer, 2021. All Rights Reserved. item: Synthese holder: Springer Nature dt: @attributes: year: 2021 holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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