Reduction and Elimination in Philosophy and the Sciences

More documents

Recommendations

Info

The Place of Theory Reduction in the Models of Interdisciplinary Relations — Uwe Voigt So far we have examined the “Yes”-branch of the model of models of interdisciplinary relations. But if we have to consider theory reduction, it obviously is to be found on the other side. The basic decision to be made, then, is that there are not irreducibly many disciplines. If we decide this way, we do not face a problem of interdisciplinary relations but rather the problem how to make the pseudo-problem of interdisciplinary go away by making all disciplines collapse into only one. So we are on the side of models which can be named as “monist”. The advantage of monist models is that they guarantee – or at least claim to guarantee – a single, univocal concept of science, based on the promised unity of science. At the same time, such models somehow have to deal with the (in their view apparent) plurality of disciplines which even is increasing evermore (Poser 2001, 279-287). Hence, monist models are challenged by the question: If there is only one discipline, can the single members of the apparent plurality of disciplines be in some way identified with that one and only discipline? The answer “No” leads to eliminative models, because given monist presuppositions non-identity with the one and only discipline just means being no scientific discipline at all. To eliminate here means to demonstrate that the kind of objects with which a pseudo-discipline claims to deal simply do not exist and that therefore the terminology used by that pseudo-discipline is meaningless. This strategy can be – and has been – successful in single cases, as e.g. in the elimination of astrology from the realm of the sciences. The recent relevant discussion is focusing on the question whether disciplines of cognitive science can be eliminated in favor of neurobiology and in the final analysis of physics (e.g., as a classical attempt, Churchland 1986). As an overall strategy for tackling the problem of interdisciplinarity it is not very popular, though, because it flies in the face of the intuition that there are many disciplines which at least have a partial and temporal justification (Charpa 1996, 96). Therefore the most promising answer in the monist branch seems to be “Yes”: At least some members of the apparent plurality of disciplines can be identified with the one and only discipline and, through this identification, are also justified. This is the strategy of theory reduction which, as such, but without this context, is well researched in the philosophy of science. Theory reduction can come along in various kinds, depending on which discipline one takes to be the goal of reduction. In our time, the most popular version is physicalist theory reduction (Wilson 1998); but there also is its sociological counterpart (Luhmann 1990), and the list could be continued. The final goal here, too, as in elimination always is to end up with just one scientific discipline, but before the goal is reached, the different existing disciplines at least can be tolerated since their differences from the one and only science are only apparent ones. Reductive models face similar problems as eliminative ones: They also do not seem to do justice to the given plurality of disciplines (Margolis 1987; Rosenberg 1994). Nevertheless, this plurality is just a fact and facts can change. The hard problem of theory reduction, in my view, seems to lie elsewhere, and can be found by a look at the whole model of models of interdisciplinary relations. 3. The Hard Problem of Theory Reduction The hard problem of theory reduction can be seen in its contrast to the cooperation-contact models which are the most important plural models: Contact-models, as has been shown, imply mutual recognition between the cooperating disciplines. This recognition is withdrawn by monist models. Eliminative models do so immediately, which makes them so little attractive. Reductive models are more cautious in this respect, they even promise to give a special discipline the dignity of the one and only discipline in the way of identification. But this identification is a one-way affair. The identity of the goal-discipline of reduction is supposed to be unchanging and well-known; the identity of the discipline which is to be reduced just is an apparent one; it has been falsely taken to be something apart from the one and only science. So, in the recognition of a theory which is to be reduced, the goal-theory of reduction simply recognizes itself in a disguise which soon is to be removed. However, as Hegel has shown throughout his Phenomenology of Spirit, recognition from its very concept always must be mutual; it presupposes two parties recognizing one another. This problem is getting even harder as we tend to take for real only what science tells us to be real (Quine 1979). So, if there is only one scientific discipline, no one can recognize it as such, neither from the outside – for only science has the authority to do so – nor from the inside – for there can be no mutuality here. The hard problem of theory reduction, at least as a global strategy facing the problem of interdisciplinarity, therefore is: If it is successful, it leads to a situation in which the supposed one and only discipline can get no recognition at all. Hence, contact models, and especially cooperationcontact models do not only seem to be a better description of the reality of science in our days; they also seem to be a better way to deal with interdisciplinarity without endangering the whole concept of science as such. Literature Bourdieu, Pierre 1988: Homo academicus, Frankfurt am Main Carrier, Martin 2006: Wissenschaftstheorie zur Einführung. Hamburg Chalmers, Alan F. 5 2001: Wege der Wissenschaft. Einführung in die Wissenschaftstheorie. Berlin etc. Charpa Ulrich 1996: Grundprobleme der Wissenschaftsphilosophie. Paderborn etc. Churchland, Paul M. 1986: Neurophilosophy. Toward a Unified Science of the Mind-Brain. Cambridge, Mass. etc. Hacking, Ian 1996: Einführung in die Philosophie der Naturwissenschaften. Stuttgart Fauser, Markus 2003: Einführung in die Kulturwissenschaft. Darmstadt Feyerabend, Paul 1983: Wider den Methodenzwang. Frankfurt am Main Gläser, Jochen et al.: “Einleitung: Heterogene Kooperation”, in: Jörg Strübing et al. (eds.), Kooperation im Niemandsland. Neue Perspektiven auf Zusammenarbeit in Wissenschaft und Technik, Opladen 2004, pp. 7-24 Luhmann, Niklas 1990: Die Wissenschaft der Gesellschaft. Frankfurt am Main Margolis, Joseph 1987: The Persistence of Reality. Science Without Unity. Reconciling the Human and Natural Sciences. Oxford- New York 369
370 The Place of Theory Reduction in the Models of Interdisciplinary Relations — Uwe Voigt Mc Cormick, Michael 2003: “Rats, Communication, and the Plague: Toward an Ecological History”, The Journal of Interdisciplinary History 34/1, 1-25 Meister, Martin / Lettkemann, Eric 2004: “Vom Flugabwehrgeschütz zum niedlichen Roboter. Zum Wandel des Kooperation stiftenden Universalismus der Kybernetik”, in: Jörg Strübing et al. (eds.), Kooperation im Niemandsland. Neue Perspektiven auf Zusammenarbeit in Wissenschaft und Technik, Opladen 2004, pp. 105-135 Münch, Richard 2007: Die akademische Elite. Zur sozialen Konstruktion wissenschaftlicher Exzellenz, Frankfurt am Main Poser, Hans 2001: Wissenschaftstheorie. Eine philosophische Einführung. Stuttgart Quine, Willard van Orman 1979: Von einem logischen Standpunkt. Frankfurt etc. Rosenberg, Alexander 1994: Instrumental Biology or the Disunity of Science. Chicago-London Schneider, Peter K. 1966: Die Begründung der Wissenschaften durch Philosophie und Kybernetik. Idee, Umriß und Grundprinzip einer axiomatischen Strukturtheorie Stuttgart etc. Schurz, Gerd 2006: Einführung in die Wissenschaftstheorie. Darmstadt Wilson, Edward O. 1998: Die Einheit des Wissens. Berlin
Page 1 and 2:
31 Alexander Hieke Hannes Leitgeb H
Page 3 and 4:
Reduktion und Elimination in Philos
Page 5 and 6:
Distributors Die Österreichische L
Page 7 and 8:
6 Inhalt / Contents Wittgenstein me
Page 9 and 10:
8 Inhalt / Contents The Evolution o
Page 12 and 13:
Formal Mechanisms for Reduction in
Page 14 and 15:
4. Property language and theoretica
Page 16 and 17:
imperatives, or commands in the for
Page 18 and 19:
Referential Practice and the Lure o
Page 20 and 21:
The Augustinian account confuses mo
Page 22 and 23:
hurried to fix it on the page. The
Page 24 and 25:
The Essence (?) of Color, According
Page 26 and 27:
Literature Austin, James 1980 “Wi
Page 28 and 29:
Wittgenstein’s Externalism - Gett
Page 30 and 31:
Informal Reduction E.P. Brandon, Ca
Page 32 and 33:
An Anti-Reductionist Argument Based
Page 34 and 35:
An Anti-Reductionist Argument Based
Page 36 and 37:
Did I Do It? -Yeah, You Did! Wittge
Page 38 and 39:
Literature Did I Do It? -Yeah, You
Page 40 and 41:
tween the two approaches. The task
Page 42 and 43:
On Two Recent Defenses of The Simpl
Page 44 and 45:
On Two Recent Defenses of The Simpl
Page 46 and 47:
Queen Victoria’s Dying Thoughts T
Page 48 and 49:
Diagonalization. The Liar Paradox,
Page 50 and 51:
Proof: Given a function ƒ from con
Page 52 and 53:
that I am sure that it is true that
Page 54 and 55:
experiencing something as a red pen
Page 56 and 57:
There can be Causal without Ontolog
Page 58 and 59:
There can be Causal without Ontolog
Page 60 and 61:
objects. But they also leave unansw
Page 62 and 63:
The Knower Paradox and the Quantifi
Page 64 and 65:
The Knower Paradox and the Quantifi
Page 66 and 67:
lent. It also implies that an inven
Page 68 and 69:
The Scapegoat Theory of Causality M
Page 70 and 71:
We may have evolved a specialized c
Page 72 and 73:
easoning have their source in the l
Page 74 and 75:
Wittgenstein on Frazer and Explanat
Page 76 and 77:
genstein 1993, p. 143). In order to
Page 78 and 79:
an adequate syntactic analysis of o
Page 80 and 81:
Wittgenstein meets ÖGS: Wovon man
Page 82 and 83:
Wittgenstein meets ÖGS: Wovon man
Page 84 and 85:
3. Der Elementarsatz wird als Relat
Page 86 and 87:
Literatur Glock, Hans Johann 2006
Page 88 and 89:
Explaining the Brain: Ruthless Redu
Page 90 and 91:
Occam’s Razor in the Theory of Th
Page 92 and 93:
Literature Campbell, Donald T. 1987
Page 94 and 95:
Die Nichtreduzierbarkeit der klassi
Page 96 and 97:
Literatur Die Nichtreduzierbarkeit
Page 98 and 99:
Let T I be the minimal theory of tr
Page 100 and 101:
Does Bradley’s Regress Support No
Page 102 and 103:
(3) Mutatis mutandis, realism has t
Page 104 and 105:
Zeitliche Ontologie und zeitliche R
Page 106 and 107:
Betrachtung ontologischer Fragen, M
Page 108 and 109:
The decisive consequences of this a
Page 110 and 111:
Benacerraf and Bad Company (An Atta
Page 112 and 113:
offer a solution to the bad company
Page 114 and 115:
Literature Benacerraf, Paul 1965
Page 116 and 117:
"PA" by using "PA* ", at least at t
Page 118 and 119:
Hard Naturalism and its Puzzles Ren
Page 120 and 121:
The Mind-Body-Problem and Score-Kee
Page 122 and 123:
mental properties, for instance, or
Page 124 and 125:
kommt es zu einem gravierenden Miss
Page 126 and 127:
Reduction Revisited: The Ontologica
Page 128 and 129:
4. Conclusion Reduction Revisited:
Page 130 and 131:
All in all, we have seen that reduc
Page 132 and 133:
Physicalism Without the A Priori Pa
Page 134 and 135:
Literature Cartwright, Nancy 1999:
Page 136 and 137:
Wittgensteins Projektionsmethode al
Page 138 and 139:
Schlussbemerkungen Wittgensteins Pr
Page 140 and 141:
intentional states requires functio
Page 142 and 143:
Relating Theories. Models and Struc
Page 144 and 145:
Literature Relating Theories. Model
Page 146 and 147:
e invoked in response to the questi
Page 148 and 149:
Do Brains Think? Christopher Humphr
Page 150 and 151:
4. Conclusion So do brains think or
Page 152 and 153:
How Metaphors Alter the World-Pictu
Page 154 and 155:
The Modal Supervenience of the Conc
Page 156 and 157:
Literature van der Auwera, Johan an
Page 158 and 159:
3. The Determination of Form by Syn
Page 160 and 161:
Zwischen Humes Gesetz und „Sollen
Page 162 and 163:
Page 164 and 165:
Assessing Humean Supervenience Amir
Page 166 and 167:
determination thesis; it fails as a
Page 168 and 169:
Aus der obigen Definition folgt, da
Page 170 and 171:
Ding-Ontology of Aristotle vs. Sach
Page 172 and 173:
Ding-Ontology of Aristotle vs. Sach
Page 174 and 175:
How do Moral Principles Figure in M
Page 176 and 177:
“Downward Causation”: Emergent,
Page 178 and 179:
“Downward Causation”: Emergent,
Page 180 and 181:
A with distinguished subset Z of te
Page 182 and 183:
A Metaphysically Moderate Version o
Page 184 and 185:
Literature Balashov, Yuri 2002 ''Wh
Page 186 and 187:
“In der Frage liegt ein Fehler”
Page 188 and 189:
Problems with Psychophysical Identi
Page 190 and 191:
identity theory, or as a predecesso
Page 192 and 193:
of the world. It only matters that
Page 194 and 195:
Four Anti-reductionist Dogmas in th
Page 196 and 197:
Four Anti-reductionist Dogmas in th
Page 198 and 199:
notion of time and requires that so
Page 200 and 201:
Some Remarks on Wittgenstein and Ty
Page 202 and 203:
Some Remarks on Wittgenstein and Ty
Page 204 and 205:
concrete particulars can be subject
Page 206 and 207:
phenomenal concept of experiencing
Page 208 and 209:
Metaphorische Bedeutung als virtus
Page 210 and 211:
speaker is then attaching a special
Page 212 and 213:
„Vom Weißdorn und vom Propheten
Page 214 and 215:
„Die Einheit hören“ - Einige
Page 216 and 217:
„Die Einheit hören“ - Einige
Page 218 and 219:
S4) the necessity of arithmetic is
Page 220 and 221:
Getting out from Inside: Why the Cl
Page 222 and 223:
Dispensing with Particulars: Unders
Page 224 and 225:
Literature Dispensing with Particul
Page 226 and 227:
Reichenbach’s Concept of Logical
Page 228 and 229:
Defining Ontological Naturalism Mar
Page 230 and 231:
Literature Jackson, Frank 1986. “
Page 232 and 233:
properties are located. This proces
Page 234 and 235:
‘our conceptual scheme’ “is c
Page 236 and 237:
Properties and Reduction between Me
Page 238 and 239:
Does this mean that metaphysics sho
Page 240 and 241:
do not pick out pain in a system by
Page 242 and 243:
The Writing of Nietzsche and Wittge
Page 244 and 245:
his teachings. He coincides with hi
Page 246 and 247:
sense of a proposition without firs
Page 248 and 249:
Naturalistic Ethics: A Logical Posi
Page 250 and 251:
Literature Kant, Immanuel 2006 Crit
Page 252 and 253:
What we now require is a bridge the
Page 254 and 255:
Species, Variability, and Integrati
Page 256 and 257:
could mention the many sorts of iso
Page 258 and 259:
to work this way. Classic examples
Page 260 and 261:
The Key Problems of KC Matteo Pleba
Page 262 and 263:
have embraced the myth of prose: it
Page 264 and 265:
5. Prior’s Problem As Patrick Bla
Page 266 and 267:
Reductionism in Axiology: the Case
Page 268 and 269:
developing of cancer tissue in huma
Page 270 and 271:
(2) One-way Nagelian bridge princip
Page 272 and 273:
Rethinking the Modal Argument again
Page 274 and 275:
Rethinking the Modal Argument again
Page 276 and 277:
that we are to find the features we
Page 278 and 279:
Atypical Rational Agency Paul Raymo
Page 280 and 281:
Literature Anscombe, G. E. M. 1957
Page 282 and 283:
situation bieten sich keine Kriteri
Page 284 and 285:
Two Reductions of ‘rule’ Dana R
Page 286 and 287:
one that could take place, but does
Page 288 and 289:
physics is not able to make, since
Page 290 and 291:
Wittgenstein’s Attitudes Fabien S
Page 292 and 293:
view of logic, in accordance with h
Page 294 and 295:
Warum man auf transzendentalphiloso
Page 296 and 297:
Making the Mind Higher-Level Elizab
Page 298 and 299:
Literature Churchland, P. M. (1995)
Page 300 and 301:
Page 302 and 303:
Mental Causation: A Lesson from Act
Page 304 and 305:
Again, this is mistaken. Non-reduct
Page 306 and 307:
auf alle Arten von kontingenten Pro
Page 308 and 309:
Reduction, Sets, and Properties Ben
Page 310 and 311:
Literature Egan, Andy (2004): ‘Se
Page 312 and 313:
there is a tension between evaluati
Page 314 and 315:
The Elimination of Meaning in Compu
Page 316 and 317:
sufficient to explain all of the em
Page 318 and 319:
that 'A' and 'A' could never be tok
Page 320 and 321: the necktie sense) can differ in wh
Page 322 and 323: Supervenience and ‘Should’ Arto
Page 324 and 325: word 'norm' can be thought to expre
Page 326 and 327: Rule-following as Coordination: A G
Page 328 and 329: vast majority are bent: gruesome, g
Page 330 and 331: human life, the violent condition o
Page 332 and 333: A Division in Mind. The Misconceive
Page 334 and 335: A Division in Mind. The Misconceive
Page 336 and 337: could then deduce (1c) and conclude
Page 338 and 339: Neutral Monism. A Miraculous, Incoh
Page 340 and 341: Neutral Monism. A Miraculous, Incoh
Page 342 and 343: A somewhat Eliminativist Proposal a
Page 344 and 345: Impliziert der intentionale Redukti
Page 346 and 347: Impliziert der intentionale Redukti
Page 348 and 349: Structure of the Paradoxes, Structu
Page 350 and 351: Structure of the Paradoxes, Structu
Page 352 and 353: that he was working on a translatio
Page 354 and 355: Objects of Perception, Objects of S
Page 356 and 357: Objects of Perception, Objects of S
Page 358 and 359: Let us take the example of the hypo
Page 360 and 361: Reducing Sets to Modalities Rafał
Page 362 and 363: variables ai that (under an interpr
Page 364 and 365: Are Lamarckian Explanations Fully R
Page 366 and 367: A Note on Tractatus 5.521 Nuno Vent
Page 368 and 369: And he goes on saying, referring to
Page 372 and 373: Ethik als irreduzibles Supervenienz
Page 374 and 375: unabhängig von denen ihrer Mitglie
Page 376 and 377: Das ‘schwierige Problem’ des Be
Page 378 and 379: The Supervenience Argument, Levels,
Page 380 and 381: The Supervenience Argument, Levels,
Page 382 and 383: their relations both to the physica
Page 384 and 385: On the Characterization of Objects
Page 386 and 387: On the Characterization of Objects
Page 388 and 389: The Functional Unity of Special Sci
Page 390 and 391: size, location, temporal characteri
Page 392 and 393: Transcendental Philosophy and Mind-
Page 394 and 395: From Topology to Logic. The Neural
Page 396 and 397: From Topology to Logic. The Neural
Page 398 and 399: The Calculus of Inductive Construct
Page 400 and 401: The Four-Color Theorem, Testimony a
Page 402 and 403: experience. Of course, a detailed a
Page 404 and 405: Clearly x = y → x = ext y holds,
Page 406 and 407: Intentional Fundamentalism Petri Yl
Page 408 and 409: The second dimension to be consider
Page 410 and 411: The very existence of the special s
Page 412 and 413: Heil, J. (1999), “Multiple Realiz
Page 414 and 415: independent of what is the fact, fa
Page 416 and 417: 415
Page 418: Publications of the Austrian Ludwig
show all

Reduction and Elimination in Philosophy and the Sciences

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?