This book develops a philosophical account that reveals the major
characteristics that make an explanation in the life sciences
reductive and distinguish them from non-reductive explanations.
Understanding what reductive explanations are enables one to assess
the conditions under which reductive explanations are adequate and
thus enhances debates about explanatory reductionism. The account
of reductive explanation presented in this book has three major
characteristics. First, it emerges from a critical reconstruction
of the explanatory practice of the life sciences itself. Second,
the account is monistic since it specifies one set of criteria that
apply to explanations in the life sciences in general. Finally, the
account is ontic in that it traces the reductivity of an
explanation back to certain relations that exist between objects in
the world (such as part-whole relations and level relations),
rather than to the logical relations between sentences. Beginning
with a disclosure of the meta-philosophical assumptions that
underlie the author's analysis of reductive explanation, the book
leads into the debate about reduction(ism) in the philosophy of
biology and continues with a discussion on the two perspectives on
explanatory reduction that have been proposed in the philosophy of
biology so far. The author scrutinizes how the issue of reduction
becomes entangled with explanation and analyzes two concepts, the
concept of a biological part and the concept of a level of
organization. The results of these five chapters constitute the
ground on which the author bases her final chapter, developing her
ontic account of reductive explanation.
General
| Imprint: |
Springer International Publishing AG
|
| Country of origin: |
Switzerland |
| Series: |
History, Philosophy and Theory of the Life Sciences, 16 |
| Release date: |
December 2015 |
| First published: |
2015 |
| Authors: |
Marie I Kaiser
|
| Dimensions: |
235 x 155 x 18mm (L x W x T) |
| Format: |
Hardcover
|
| Pages: |
277 |
| Edition: |
1st ed. 2015 |
| ISBN-13: |
978-3-319-25308-4 |
| Categories: |
Books >
Science & Mathematics >
Science: general issues >
Philosophy of science
|
| LSN: |
3-319-25308-5 |
| Barcode: |
9783319253084 |
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!
Welcome to Loot.co.za!
Sign in / Register |Wishlists & Gift Vouchers |Help | Advanced search
