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Unification and Explanation: Explanation as a Prototype Concept. A Reply to Weber and van Dyck, Gijsberg, and de Regt

Schurz, Gerhard (2014) Unification and Explanation: Explanation as a Prototype Concept. A Reply to Weber and van Dyck, Gijsberg, and de Regt. THEORIA. An International Journal for Theory, History and Foundations of Science, 29 (1). pp. 57-70. ISSN 2171-679X

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Abstract

In this paper I investigate unification as a virtue of explanation. I the first part of the paper (sec. 1-2) I give a brief exposition of the unification account of Schurz and Lambert (1994) and Schurz (1999). I illustrate the advantages of this account in comparison to the older unification accounts of Friedman (1974) and Kitcher (1981). In the second part (sec. 3) I discuss several comments and objections to the Schurz-Lambert account that were raised by Weber and van Dyck (2002), Gijsberg (2007) and de Regt (2005). In the third and final part (sec. 4), I argue that explanation should be understood as a prototype concept which contains nomic expectability, causality and unification as prototypical virtues of explanations, although none of these virtues provides a sufficient and necessary "defining condition" of explanation.

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Item Type: Published Article or Volume
Creators:
CreatorsEmailORCID
Schurz, Gerhardgerhard.schurz@phil-fak.uni-duesseldorf.de
Additional Information: ISSN: 0495-4548 (print)
Keywords: Unification; Explanation; Prototype concept
Subjects: General Issues > Explanation
Depositing User: Unnamed user with email theoria@ehu.es
Date Deposited: 06 May 2014 11:27
Last Modified: 06 May 2014 11:27
Item ID: 10653
Journal or Publication Title: THEORIA. An International Journal for Theory, History and Foundations of Science
Publisher: Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea / Universidad del País Vasco
Official URL: http://www.ehu.es/ojs/index.php/THEORIA/article/vi...
DOI or Unique Handle: 10.1387/theoria.8729
Subjects: General Issues > Explanation
Date: January 2014
Page Range: pp. 57-70
Volume: 29
Number: 1
ISSN: 2171-679X
URI: https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/10653

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