Rice, Collin (2012) Optimality Explanations: A Plea for an Alternative Approach. Biology & Philosophy, 27. ISSN 1572-8404
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Abstract
Recently philosophers of science have begun to pay more attention to the use of highly idealized mathematical models in scientific theorizing. An important example of this kind of highly idealized modeling is the widespread use of optimality models within evolutionary biology. One way to understand the explanations provided by these models is as a censored causal explanation: an explanation that omits certain causal factors in order to focus on a modular subset of the causal processes that led to the explanandum. In this paper, I first argue that the censored causal model approach fails to establish a permanent explanatory role for optimality models in biology and mischaracterizes the explanatory virtues of biological optimality modeling. In addition, I argue that many biological optimality explanations cannot be characterized as censored causal explanations. In response, I propose an alternative approach that analyzes optimality models’ reliance on synchronically representing a system’s constraints and tradeoffs as well as their employment of various kinds of idealization in order to provide equilibrium explanations.
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| Item Type: | Published Article or Volume | ||||||
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| Keywords: | Explanation; Idealization; Modeling; Optimality | ||||||
| Subjects: | General Issues > Explanation General Issues > Models and Idealization |
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| Depositing User: | Collin Rice | ||||||
| Date Deposited: | 22 Aug 2025 14:28 | ||||||
| Last Modified: | 22 Aug 2025 14:28 | ||||||
| Item ID: | 26314 | ||||||
| Journal or Publication Title: | Biology & Philosophy | ||||||
| Publisher: | Springer | ||||||
| Official URL: | https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10539-0... | ||||||
| DOI or Unique Handle: | 10.1007/s10539-012-9322-6 | ||||||
| Subjects: | General Issues > Explanation General Issues > Models and Idealization |
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| Date: | 2012 | ||||||
| Volume: | 27 | ||||||
| ISSN: | 1572-8404 | ||||||
| URI: | https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/26314 |
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