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Single Idea 13057
[filed under theme 14. Science / D. Explanation / 2. Types of Explanation / l. Probabilistic explanations
]
Full Idea
Perhaps we should think of probabilities in terms of propensities rather than frequencies.
Gist of Idea
Think of probabilities in terms of propensities rather than frequencies
Source
Wesley Salmon (Four Decades of Scientific Explanation [1989], 3.2)
Book Ref
Salmon,Wesley C.: 'Four Decades of Scientific Explanation', ed/tr. Humphreys,Paul [Pittsburgh 2006], p.74
A Reaction
[He cites Coffa 1974 for this] I find this suggestion very appealing, as it connects up with dispositions and powers, which I take to be the building blocks of all explanation. It is, of course, easier to render frequencies numerically.
The
29 ideas
from Wesley Salmon
4784
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Salmon says processes rather than events should be basic in a theory of physical causation
[Salmon, by Psillos]
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16557
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Salmon's mechanisms are processes and interactions, involving marks, or conserved quantities
[Salmon, by Machamer/Darden/Craver]
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8411
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Instead of localised events, I take enduring and extended processes as basic to causation
[Salmon]
|
8412
|
A causal interaction is when two processes intersect, and correlated modifications persist afterwards
[Salmon]
|
8413
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Cause must come first in propagations of causal interactions, but interactions are simultaneous
[Salmon]
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13047
|
It is knowing 'why' that gives scientific understanding, not knowing 'that'
[Salmon]
|
13046
|
Scientific explanation is not reducing the unfamiliar to the familiar
[Salmon]
|
13045
|
Explanation at the quantum level will probably be by entirely new mechanisms
[Salmon]
|
13049
|
We must distinguish true laws because they (unlike accidental generalizations) explain things
[Salmon]
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13051
|
Deductive-nomological explanations will predict, and their predictions will explain
[Salmon]
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13050
|
The 'inferential' conception is that all scientific explanations are arguments
[Salmon]
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13053
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A law is not enough for explanation - we need information about what makes a difference
[Salmon]
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13054
|
Correlations can provide predictions, but only causes can give explanations
[Salmon]
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13055
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Good induction needs 'total evidence' - the absence at the time of any undermining evidence
[Salmon]
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13056
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Statistical explanation needs relevance, not high probability
[Salmon]
|
13057
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Think of probabilities in terms of propensities rather than frequencies
[Salmon]
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13059
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Ontic explanations can be facts, or reports of facts
[Salmon]
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13058
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Why-questions can seek evidence as well as explanation
[Salmon]
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13061
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Flagpoles explain shadows, and not vice versa, because of temporal ordering
[Salmon]
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13060
|
Can events whose probabilities are low be explained?
[Salmon]
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13062
|
Does an item have a function the first time it occurs?
[Salmon]
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13063
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Explanations reveal the mechanisms which produce the facts
[Salmon]
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13064
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The three basic conceptions of scientific explanation are modal, epistemic, and ontic
[Salmon]
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13065
|
Understanding is an extremely vague concept
[Salmon]
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13067
|
For the instrumentalists there are no scientific explanations
[Salmon]
|
8409
|
Probabilistic causal concepts are widely used in everyday life and in science
[Salmon]
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17093
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Causation produces productive mechanisms; to understand the world, understand these mechanisms
[Salmon]
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17492
|
Salmon's interaction mechanisms needn't be regular, or involving any systems
[Glennan on Salmon]
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14366
|
An explanation is a table of statistical information
[Salmon, by Strevens]
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