The Concept of Reduction by Raphael van Riel (auth.)

By Raphael van Riel (auth.)

This quantity investigates the concept of aid. development at the concept that philosophers hire the time period ‘reduction’ to reconcile variety and directionality with harmony, with out hoping on removal, the ebook bargains a robust explication of an “ontological”, suggestion of relief the extension of that's (primarily) shaped through homes, varieties, contributors, or procedures. It argues that similar notions of relief, comparable to theory-reduction and useful relief, could be outlined by way of this explication. Thereby, the e-book deals a coherent framework, which sheds mild at the background of a number of the relief debates within the philosophy of technology and within the philosophy of brain, and on similar themes corresponding to aid and unification, the thought of a systematic point, and physicalism.

The publication takes its aspect of departure within the exam of a puzzle approximately aid. to demonstrate, the e-book takes for example the aid of water. If water reduces to H2O, then water is similar to H2O – therefore we get cohesion. harmony doesn't come on the expense of removing – claiming that water reduces to H2O, we don't thereby declare that there's no water. yet what approximately variety and directionality? Intuitively, there can be a distinction among water and H2O, such that we get range. this is often required for there to be directionality: in a feeling, if water reduces to H2O, then H2O is sooner than, or extra simple than water. at the least, if water reduces to H2O, then H2O doesn't decrease to water. yet how can this be, if water is similar to H2O? The e-book indicates that the applying of present types of aid doesn't resolve this puzzle, and proposes a brand new coherent definition, in keeping with which cohesion is tied to identification, range is descriptive in nature, and directionality is the directionality of explanation.

Show description

Read Online or Download The Concept of Reduction PDF

Best public affairs books

After the Great Complacence: Financial Crisis and the Politics of Reform

What's the dating among the economy and politics? In a democratic process, what sort of keep an eye on should still elected governments have over the monetary markets? What guidelines could be carried out to manage them? what's the position performed by way of assorted elites--financial, technocratic, and political--in the operation and law of the economic climate?

Institutional Constraints and Policy Choice: An Exploration of Local Governance

Examines the institutional ideas of the sport that either form and are formed by way of human habit, targeting the neighborhood point preparations.

Reforming for Results in the UN System: A Study of UNOPS

The United international locations workplace for venture companies (UNOPS) is the single UN association that's self-financing via charges earned on venture management/provision of companies in all developmental and humanitarian fields. Following a disruptive merger strategy its destiny appeared doubtful. This e-book describes and analyzes the consequent reform, its difficulties and successes, in addition to its relevance to different UN agencies and New Public administration idea.

Additional resources for The Concept of Reduction

Example text

Craver, Carl. 2005. Beyond reduction: Mechanisms, multifield integration and the unity of neuroscience. Studies in the History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 36: 373–395. Crook, Seth, and Carl Gillet. 2001. Why physics alone cannot define the ‘physical’. Canadian Journal of Philosophy 31: 333–360. 36 2 How to Approach Reduction: Explication and Meta-science Davidson, Donald. 1969. The individuation of events. In Essays in honor of Carl G. Hempel, ed. Nicholas Rescher, 216–234.

Bickle, John. 2008. ). In Being reduced, ed. Jakob Hohwy and Jesper Kallestrup, 34–51. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Block, Ned. 1997. Anti-reductionism slaps back. Philosophical Perspectives 11: 107–132. Butterfield, Jeremy. 2011a. Emergence, reduction and supervenience: A varied landscape. Foundations of Physics 41: 920–959. Butterfield, Jeremy. 2011b. Less is different: Emergence and reduction reconciled. Foundations of Physics 41: 1065–1135. Carnap, Rudolf. 1934. The unity of science. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner, and Co.

The purpose of this list is primarily to indicate that if one of its items occurs, we have a case of ontological talk. Secondly, we can use this list to introduce relations instantiated by pairs of items on this list: Particularized properties and 17 Lewis (1986) treats events as properties (Lewis interprets them as properties of space-time regions), Kim interprets them as property-exemplifications which involve a property, a substance and a time (Kim 1976). Davidson famously defended the idea that events are particulars (Davidson 1969, 1970).

Download PDF sample

Rated 4.91 of 5 – based on 43 votes