Unification: What is it, how do we Reach and why do we Want it?

被引:0
作者
Erik Weber
机构
[1] University of Ghent,Department of Philosophy and Moral Sciences
来源
Synthese | 1999年 / 118卷
关键词
Modus Ponens; Cognitive Norm; Deductive Argument; Succession Explanation; Causal Understanding;
D O I
暂无
中图分类号
学科分类号
摘要
This article has three aims. The first is to give a partial explication of the concept of unification. My explication will be partial because I confine myself to unification of particular events, because I do not consider events of a quantitative nature, and discuss only deductive cases. The second aim is to analyze how unification can be reached. My third aim is to show that unification is an intellectual benefit. Instead of being an intellectual benefit unification could be an intellectual harm, i.e., a state of mind we should try to avoid by all means. By calling unification an intellectual benefit, we claim that this form of understanding has an intrinsic value for us. I argue that unification really has this alleged intrinsic value.
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页码:479 / 499
页数:20
相关论文
共 3 条
[1]  
Kitcher P.(1981)Explanatory Unification Philosophy of Science 48 507-531
[2]  
Salmon W.(1993)The Value of Scientific Understanding Philosophica 51 9-19
[3]  
Weber E.(1996)Explaining, Understanding and Scientific Theories Erkenntniss 44 1-23