The generality of scientific models: a measure theoretic approach.
Scientific models are often said to be more or less general depending on how many cases they cover. In this paper we argue that the cardinality of cases is insufficient as a metric of generality, and we present a novel account based on measure theory. This account overcomes several problems with the...
| Publicado en: | Synthese Vol. 192; no. 1; pp. 269 - 286 |
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| Autores principales: | , |
| Formato: | Artículo |
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Springer Nature
Jan2015
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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=99730409&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: hlh uiTerm: 99730409 longDbName: Humanities International Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 00397857 4LI jtl: Synthese issn: 00397857 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Jan2015 vid: 192 iid: 1 pid: 237 pub: Springer Nature artinfo: ui: 99730409 10.1007/s11229-014-0567-2 ppf: 269 ppct: 17 formats: fmt: @attributes: type: P size: 196KB tig: atl: The generality of scientific models: a measure theoretic approach. aug: au: Lewis, Cory Belanger, Christopher affil: IHPST, University of Toronto, Room 316, Victoria College, 91 Charles Street West Toronto M5S 1K7 Canada su: Scientific models Measure theory Philosophy of science Structural genomics Generalization sug: subj: Scientific models Measure theory Philosophy of science Structural genomics Generalization keyword: Generality Modelling ab: Scientific models are often said to be more or less general depending on how many cases they cover. In this paper we argue that the cardinality of cases is insufficient as a metric of generality, and we present a novel account based on measure theory. This account overcomes several problems with the cardinality approach, and additionally provides some insight into the nature of assessments of generality. Specifically, measure theory affords a natural and quantitative way of describing local spaces of possibility. The generality of models can be understood as the measure of possibilities to which the models apply. In order to illustrate our view, we consider the example of structural genomics, the ongoing project of building three-dimensional models of biological macromolecules like proteins. Using measure theory, we interpret the practice of homology modeling, where such models are understood to apply widely but imperfectly to the space of possible proteins. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: Y custom: Synthese is a copyright of Springer, 2015. All Rights Reserved. item: Synthese holder: Springer Nature dt: @attributes: year: 2015 holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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