Murphy, Alice (2022) Form and Content: A Defence of Aesthetic Value in Science. [Preprint]

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Abstract

Those who wish to defend the role of aesthetic values in science face a dilemma: Either aesthetic language is used metaphorically for what are ultimately epistemic features, or aesthetic language is used literally but it is difficult to see the importance of such values in science. I introduce a new account that gets around this problem by looking to an overlooked source of aesthetic value in science: the relation between form and content. I argue that a fit between the content of a thought experiment, and the way in which that content is formulated, can have important epistemic pay offs through contributing to scientific understanding.

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Item Type:	Preprint
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID Murphy, Alice alicemlmurphy@gmail.com 0000-0002-3707-6872
Keywords:	Aesthetics Thought Experiments Scientific Understanding Imagination
Subjects:	General Issues > Thought Experiments General Issues > Values In Science
Depositing User:	Dr Alice Murphy
Date Deposited:	24 Jul 2022 11:56
Last Modified:	24 Jul 2022 11:56
Item ID:	20943
Subjects:	General Issues > Thought Experiments General Issues > Values In Science
Date:	15 April 2022
URI:	https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/20943

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