SCIENTIFIC EXPLANATION AND THE CAUSAL STRUCTURE OF THE WORLD by Wesley C. Salmon ( 9780691101705 )

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Title:

SCIENTIFIC EXPLANATION AND THE CAUSAL STRUCTURE OF THE WORLD

By:

Wesley C. Salmon

Format:

Paperback

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£28.00

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£22.40

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ISBN 10:

0691101701

ISBN 13:

9780691101705

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Publisher:

PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS

Pub. date:

21 December, 1984

Pages:

321

Description:

Proposes philosophical theory of scientific explanation proposed that involves a treatment of causality that accords with the pervasively statistical character of contemporary science. This title describes three fundamental conceptions of scientific explanation - the epistemic, modal, and ontic.

Synopsis:

The philosophical theory of scientific explanation proposed here involves a radically new treatment of causality that accords with the pervasively statistical character of contemporary science. Wesley C. Salmon describes three fundamental conceptions of scientific explanation--the epistemic, modal, and ontic. He argues that the prevailing view (a version of the epistemic conception) is untenable and that the modal conception is scientifically out-dated. Significantly revising aspects of his earlier work, he defends a causal/mechanical theory that is a version of the ontic conception. Professor Salmon's theory furnishes a robust argument for scientific realism akin to the argument that convinced twentieth-century physical scientists of the existence of atoms and molecules. To do justice to such notions as irreducibly statistical laws and statistical explanation, he offers a novel account of physical randomness. The transition from the "reviewed view" of scientific explanation (that explanations are arguments) to the causal/mechanical model requires fundamental rethinking of basic explanatory concepts.

Publication:

Imprint:

Princeton University Press

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Returnable

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