Gervais, Raoul (2017) Phenomenological understanding and electric eels. THEORIA. An International Journal for Theory, History and Foundations of Science, 32 (3). pp. 293-302. ISSN 2171-679X
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Abstract
Explanations are supposed to provide us with understanding. It is common to make a distinction between genuine, scientific understanding, and the phenomenological, or ‘aha’ notion of understanding, where the former is considered epistemically relevant, the latter irrelevant. I argue that there is a variety of phenomenological understanding that does play a positive epistemic role. This phenomenological understanding involves a similarity between bodily sensations that is used as evidence for mechanistic hypotheses. As a case study, I will consider 17th and 18th century research into the mechanism behind the electric eel’s power to shock.
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| Item Type: | Published Article or Volume | ||||||
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| Additional Information: | ISSN: 0495-4548 (print) | ||||||
| Keywords: | Understanding; explanation; subjective; phenomenology; electric eels | ||||||
| Subjects: | General Issues > Explanation General Issues > History of Science Case Studies General Issues > Models and Idealization |
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| Depositing User: | Unnamed user with email theoria@ehu.es | ||||||
| Date Deposited: | 25 Oct 2017 14:09 | ||||||
| Last Modified: | 25 Oct 2017 14:09 | ||||||
| Item ID: | 14060 | ||||||
| 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.eus/ojs/index.php/THEORIA/article/v... | ||||||
| DOI or Unique Handle: | 10.1387/theoria.17294 | ||||||
| Subjects: | General Issues > Explanation General Issues > History of Science Case Studies General Issues > Models and Idealization |
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| Date: | September 2017 | ||||||
| Page Range: | pp. 293-302 | ||||||
| Volume: | 32 | ||||||
| Number: | 3 | ||||||
| ISSN: | 2171-679X | ||||||
| URI: | https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/14060 |
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