Article ID: CBB484696849

Concrete Scale Models, Essential Idealization, and Causal Explanation (2022)

unapi

This paper defends three claims about concrete or physical models: (i) these models remain important in science and engineering, (ii) they are often essentially idealized, in a sense to be made precise, and (iii) despite these essential idealizations, some of these models may be reliably used for the purpose of causal explanation. This discussion of concrete models is pursued using a detailed case study of some recent models of landslide generated impulse waves. Practitioners show a clear awareness of the idealized character of these models, and yet address these concerns through a number of methods. This paper focuses on experimental arguments that show how certain failures to accurately represent feature X are consistent with accurately representing some causes of feature Y, even when X is causally relevant to Y. To analyse these arguments, the claims generated by a model must be carefully examined and grouped into types. Only some of these types can be endorsed by practitioners, but I argue that these endorsed claims are sufficient for limited forms of causal explanation.

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Authors & Contributors
Kress, W. John
Moll, Remington J.
Sangiacomo, Andrea
Rice, Collin C.
Vrishali Subramanian
Blomhøj, Morten
Concepts
Case studies
Research methods
Models and modeling in science
Philosophy of science
Experiments and experimentation
Epistemology
Time Periods
21st century
20th century, late
20th century, early
20th century
18th century
17th century
Places
Arizona (U.S.)
United States
Netherlands
Finland
Europe
Brazil
Institutions
Helsingin yliopisto (Finland)
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