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Full-Text Articles in History of Philosophy
'In' Or 'As' Space?: A Model Of Complexity, With Philosophical, Simulatory, And Empirical Ramifications, Charles H. Smith
'In' Or 'As' Space?: A Model Of Complexity, With Philosophical, Simulatory, And Empirical Ramifications, Charles H. Smith
DLPS Faculty Publications
A General Systems model based on ideas originating with the writings of Benedict de Spinoza is described, starting with its philosophical underpinnings, and proceeding on to its relation to modern systems concepts, including attempts to simulate the relationships posed, and measure real world structures. Central to the idea is the notion that spatial extension may not have a prior existence, but emerges only through an entropy maximization process in which information and energy exchange is balanced among some limited number of subsystems that in sum comprise any given functioning complex system. Related published empiricism concerning geographical/geological systems – the hypsometry …
Causal And Mechanistic Explanations, And A Lesson From Ecology, Viorel Pâslaru
Causal And Mechanistic Explanations, And A Lesson From Ecology, Viorel Pâslaru
Philosophy Faculty Publications
Jani Raerinne and Lindley Darden argue that causal claims are not sufficiently explanatory, and causal talk should be replaced with mechanistic talk. I examine several examples from ecological research, two of which rely on causal models and structural equation modeling, to show that the assertions of Raerinne and of Darden have to be reconsidered.
Calling Science Pseudoscience: Fleck’S Archaeologies Of Fact And Latour’S ‘Biography Of An Investigation’ In Aids Denialism And Homeopathy, Babette Babich
Calling Science Pseudoscience: Fleck’S Archaeologies Of Fact And Latour’S ‘Biography Of An Investigation’ In Aids Denialism And Homeopathy, Babette Babich
Articles and Chapters in Academic Book Collections
Fleck’s Genesis and Development of a Scientific Fact foregrounds claims traditionally excluded from reception, often regarded as opposed to fact, scientific claims that are increasingly seldom discussed in connection with philosophy of science save as examples of pseudo-science. I am especially concerned with scientists who question the epidemiological link between HIV and AIDS and who are thereby discounted—no matter their credentials, no matter the cogency of their arguments, no matter the sobriety of their statistics—but also with other classic examples of so-called pseudo-science including homeopathy and other sciences, such as cold fusion. The pseudo-science version of the demarcation problem turns …