Glick, David
(2023)
The Principle of Least Action and Teleological Explanation in Physics.
[Preprint]
Abstract
The Principle of Least Action (PLA) has often been cited as a counterexample to the dominant mode of causal explanation in physics. In particular, PLA seems to involve an appeal to final causes or some other teleological ideology. However, Ben-Menahem (2018) argues that such implications no longer apply given that PLA can be recovered as limiting case from quantum theory. In this paper, I argue that the metaphysical implications of PLA-based explanations are not undermined by its status as derivative. However, I contend that PLA functions as a diachronic constraint that licenses explanations by constraint (Lange, 2016). PLA-based explanations, on this account, are non-causal but also differ from familiar cases of teleological explanations in several respects.
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