van Riel, Raphael (2008) From Water to H2O – What Reduction is About. In: UNSPECIFIED.

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Abstract

In this paper I argue that an important notion of reduction depends on a four-place relation holding between expressions, concepts, properties, and events or states of affairs. I define this notion and argue against alternative accounts that are based on syntactic features of theories. Whilst these latter attempts fail to deliver a satisfactory explanation of why a certain theory or a certain expression reduces to another, the former can give a complete explanation of why, say, ‛human pain’ reduces to ‛C-fiber stimulation’ (if it reduces at all) or why the mind reduces to the physical. I briefly sketch the difference between the semantic approach that I favor, which is based on a particular notion of hyper-intensions, and classical model-theoretic versions of reduction

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Item Type:	Conference or Workshop Item (UNSPECIFIED)
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID van Riel, Raphael
Keywords:	Reduction, explanation, scientific levels, conceptual contents
Subjects:	General Issues > Reductionism/Holism General Issues > Explanation General Issues > Philosophers of Science
Depositing User:	Raphael van Riel
Date Deposited:	10 Jul 2008
Last Modified:	07 Oct 2010 15:16
Item ID:	4101
Subjects:	General Issues > Reductionism/Holism General Issues > Explanation General Issues > Philosophers of Science
Date:	2008
URI:	https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/4101

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