Mathematics And Explanatory Generality
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
6-2017
Published In
Philosophia Mathematica
Abstract
According to one popular nominalist picture, even when mathematics features indispensably in scientific explanations, this mathematics plays only a purely representational role: physical facts are represented, and these exclusively carry the explanatory load. I think that this view is mistaken, and that there are cases where mathematics itself plays an explanatory role. I distinguish two kinds of explanatory generality: scope generality and topic generality. Using the well-known periodical-cicada example, and also a new case study involving bicycle gears, I argue that what is picked out by the mathematics are structural facts that go beyond any specific physical facts.
Recommended Citation
Alan Richard Baker.
(2017).
"Mathematics And Explanatory Generality".
Philosophia Mathematica.
Volume 25,
Issue 2.
194-209.
DOI: 10.1093/philmat/nkw021
https://works.swarthmore.edu/fac-philosophy/460
