NDLI: Unfolding in the empirical sciences: experiments, thought experiments and computer simulations

Content Provider	Springer Nature Link
Author	El Skaf, Rawad Imbert, Cyrille
Copyright Year	2012
Abstract	Experiments (E), computer simulations (CS) and thought experiments (TE) are usually seen as playing different roles in science and as having different epistemologies. Accordingly, they are usually analyzed separately. We argue in this paper that these activities can contribute to answering the same questions by playing the same epistemic role when they are used to unfold the content of a well-described scenario. We emphasize that in such cases, these three activities can be described by means of the same conceptual framework—even if each of them, because they involve different types of processes, fall under these concepts in different ways. We further illustrate our claims by presenting a threefold case study describing how a TE, a CS and an E were indeed used in the same role at different periods to answer the same questions about the possibility of a physical Maxwellian demon. We also point at fluid dynamics as another field where these activities seem to be playing the same unfolding role. We analyze the importance of unfolding as a general task of science and highlight how our description in terms of epistemic functions articulates in a noncommittal way with the epistemology of these three activities and accounts for their similarities and the existence of hybrid forms of activities. We finally emphasize that picturing these activities as functionally substitutable does not imply that they are epistemologically substitutable.
Starting Page	3451
Ending Page	3474
Page Count	24
File Format	PDF
ISSN	00397857
Journal	Synthese
Volume Number	190
Issue Number	16
e-ISSN	15730964
Language	English
Publisher	Springer Netherlands
Publisher Date	2012-11-07
Publisher Place	Dordrecht
Access Restriction	One Nation One Subscription (ONOS)
Subject Keyword	Experiment Computer simulation Thought experiment Unfolding Scenario Maxwell’s demon Physical demon Analytic versus synthetic knowledge Formal versus empirical disciplines Functional substitutability Epistemological substitutability Philosophy of Science Epistemology Logic Philosophy of Language Metaphysics
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article
Subject	Philosophy Social Sciences

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