Dorato, Mauro (2014) Dynamical versus structural explanations in scientific revolutions. [Preprint]
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Abstract
By briefly reviewing three well-known scientific revolutions in fundamental physics (the discovery of inertia, of special relativity and of general relativity), I claim that problems that were supposed to be crying for a dynamical explanation in the old paradigm ended up receiving a structural explanation in the new one. This claim is meant to give more substance to Kuhn’s view that revolutions are accompanied by a shift in what needs to be explained, while suggesting at the same time the existence of a pattern that is common to all of the discussed case-studies. It remains to be seen whether also quantum mechanics, in particular entanglement, conforms to this pattern.
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Item Type: | Preprint | ||||||
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Keywords: | Scientific revolution, causal explanation, dynamical explanation, structural explanation, Kuhn, inertia, special relativity, general relativity, spatiotemporal symmetries, entanglement | ||||||
Subjects: | Specific Sciences > Physics > Classical Physics General Issues > Explanation General Issues > History of Science Case Studies Specific Sciences > Physics > Relativity Theory Specific Sciences > Physics > Symmetries/Invariances General Issues > Theory Change |
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Depositing User: | Dr Mauro Dorato | ||||||
Date Deposited: | 26 Aug 2014 22:00 | ||||||
Last Modified: | 26 Aug 2014 22:00 | ||||||
Item ID: | 10982 | ||||||
Subjects: | Specific Sciences > Physics > Classical Physics General Issues > Explanation General Issues > History of Science Case Studies Specific Sciences > Physics > Relativity Theory Specific Sciences > Physics > Symmetries/Invariances General Issues > Theory Change |
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Date: | August 2014 | ||||||
URI: | https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/10982 |
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