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- Title
Counterfactual Scheming.
- Authors
Baron, Sam
- Abstract
Mathematics appears to play a genuine explanatory role in science. But how do mathematical explanations work? Recently, a counterfactual approach to mathematical explanation has been suggested. I argue that such a view fails to differentiate the explanatory uses of mathematics within science from the non-explanatory uses. I go on to offer a solution to this problem by combining elements of the counterfactual theory of explanation with elements of a unification theory of explanation. The result is a theory according to which a counterfactual is explanatory when it is an instance of a generalized counterfactual scheme.
- Subjects
MATHEMATICS; EXPLANATION; MAGICICADA; NUMBER theory; COUNTERFACTUALS (Logic)
- Publication
Mind, 2020, Vol 129, Issue 514, p535
- ISSN
0026-4423
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1093/mind/fzz008