Imbert, Cyrille (2014) Realism about the complexity of physical systems without realist commitments to their scientific representations: How to get the advantages of theft without honest toil. In: UNSPECIFIED.

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Abstract

This paper shows that, under certain reasonable conditions, if the investigation of the behavior of a physical system is difficult, no scientific change can make it significantly easier. This impossibility result implies that complexity is then a necessary feature of models which truly represent the target system and of all models which are rich enough to catch its behavior and therefore that it is an inevitable element of any possible science in which this behavior is accounted for. I finally argue that complexity can then be seen as representing an intrinsic feature of the system itself.

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Item Type:	Conference or Workshop Item (UNSPECIFIED)
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID Imbert, Cyrille cyrille.imbert@univ-lorraine.fr
Keywords:	Computational Complexity Theory; Scientific realism & anti-realism; Scientific change; Inevitabilism vs contingentism; Impossibility result; Ising model; Lattice gazes; boundary layer theory; P-completeness; NP-completeness; Apparent epistemic complexity; Intrinsic irreducible complexity; Acceptable encoding/representation; Empirical Adequacy; Scientific models; Modeling;
Subjects:	Specific Sciences > Complex Systems Specific Sciences > Physics > Classical Physics Specific Sciences > Physics > Condensed Matter General Issues > Models and Idealization Specific Sciences > Physics General Issues > Realism/Anti-realism Specific Sciences > Physics > Statistical Mechanics/Thermodynamics General Issues > Theory Change
Depositing User:	Cyrille Imbert
Date Deposited:	27 Jul 2014 13:15
Last Modified:	27 Jul 2014 13:15
Item ID:	10903
Subjects:	Specific Sciences > Complex Systems Specific Sciences > Physics > Classical Physics Specific Sciences > Physics > Condensed Matter General Issues > Models and Idealization Specific Sciences > Physics General Issues > Realism/Anti-realism Specific Sciences > Physics > Statistical Mechanics/Thermodynamics General Issues > Theory Change
Date:	March 2014
URI:	https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/10903

Available Versions of this Item

• Getting the advantages of theft without honest toil: Realism about the complexity of (some) physical systems without realist commitments to their scientific representations. (deposited 24 Jun 2014 15:01)
  • Realism about the complexity of physical systems without realist commitments to their scientific representations: How to get the advantages of theft without honest toil. (deposited 01 Jul 2014 22:36)
    • Realism about the complexity of physical systems without realist commitments to their scientific representations: How to get the advantages of theft without honest toil. (deposited 27 Jul 2014 13:15) [Currently Displayed]

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