PhilSci Archive

Reconsidering Explanation: Lessons from Nanosynthesis

Bursten, Julia R. (2012) Reconsidering Explanation: Lessons from Nanosynthesis. In: [2012] Philosophy of Science Assoc. 23rd Biennial Mtg (San Diego, CA) > PSA 2012 Contributed Papers.

[img]
Preview
 PDF - Presentation
Download (66Kb) | Preview

    Abstract

    Nanosynthesis forces a reevaluation of received views on scientific explanation. I discuss the synthesis of anisotropic metal nanoparticles, a typical nanosynthesis research program, in order to demonstrate the failure of standard philosophical accounts of explanation to capture the dynamics of information exchange in synthetic sciences. I argue that using the language of effective heuristics, coupled with attention to changes in the meanings of concepts across different length scales, is a more promising means of capturing how information is obtained from the study of nanosynthesis systems.

    Export/Citation:EndNote | BibTeX | Dublin Core | ASCII/Text Citation (Chicago) | HTML Citation | OpenURL
    Social Networking:
    Share |
    Item Type: Conference or Workshop Item (UNSPECIFIED)
    Additional Information: This text is the script of the talk presented at the 2012 PSA meeting. As such, it contains no formal bibliography and occasionally refers to figures or slides. References and slides are available upon request.
    Keywords: chemistry, nano, explanation, synthesis, scales
    Subjects: Specific Sciences > Chemistry
    General Issues > Explanation
    Conferences and Volumes: [2012] Philosophy of Science Assoc. 23rd Biennial Mtg (San Diego, CA) > PSA 2012 Contributed Papers
    Depositing User: Julia Bursten
    Date Deposited: 11 Jan 2013 12:19
    Last Modified: 11 Jan 2013 12:19
    Item ID: 9518
    URI: http://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/9518

    Actions (login required)

    		 View Item

    Document Downloads