Combining Texts

All the ideas for 'Philosophy of Chemistry', 'Is Hume's Principle analytic?' and 'Explanation - Opening Address'

expand these ideas     |    start again     |     specify just one area for these texts

24 ideas

2. Reason / A. Nature of Reason / 6. Coherence
17070 Coherence is consilience, simplicity, analogy, and fitting into a web of belief [Smart]
17072 We need comprehensiveness, as well as self-coherence [Smart]
13. Knowledge Criteria / B. Internal Justification / 3. Evidentialism / a. Evidence
17073 I simply reject evidence, if it is totally contrary to my web of belief [Smart]
14. Science / D. Explanation / 1. Explanation / c. Direction of explanation
17077 The height of a flagpole could be fixed by its angle of shadow, but that would be very unusual [Smart]
17078 Universe expansion explains the red shift, but not vice versa [Smart]
14. Science / D. Explanation / 2. Types of Explanation / c. Explanations by coherence
17061 Explanation of a fact is fitting it into a system of beliefs [Smart]
17074 Explanations are bad by fitting badly with a web of beliefs, or fitting well into a bad web [Smart]
17076 Deducing from laws is one possible way to achieve a coherent explanation [Smart]
14. Science / D. Explanation / 2. Types of Explanation / d. Consilience
17071 An explanation is better if it also explains phenomena from a different field [Smart]
14. Science / D. Explanation / 2. Types of Explanation / g. Causal explanations
17062 If scientific explanation is causal, that rules out mathematical explanation [Smart]
14. Science / D. Explanation / 2. Types of Explanation / i. Explanations by mechanism
17472 Thick mechanisms map whole reactions, and thin mechanism chart the steps [Weisberg/Needham/Hendry]
17471 Using mechanisms as explanatory schemes began in chemistry [Weisberg/Needham/Hendry]
14. Science / D. Explanation / 2. Types of Explanation / j. Explanations by reduction
17075 Scientific explanation tends to reduce things to the unfamiliar (not the familiar) [Smart]
18. Thought / E. Abstraction / 7. Abstracta by Equivalence
8693 An 'abstraction principle' says two things are identical if they are 'equivalent' in some respect [Boolos]
26. Natural Theory / A. Speculations on Nature / 6. Early Matter Theories / f. Ancient elements
17465 Lavoisier's elements included four types of earth [Weisberg/Needham/Hendry]
27. Natural Reality / B. Modern Physics / 1. Relativity / b. General relativity
17063 Unlike Newton, Einstein's general theory explains the perihelion of Mercury [Smart]
27. Natural Reality / F. Chemistry / 1. Chemistry
17468 Over 100,000,000 compounds have been discovered or synthesised [Weisberg/Needham/Hendry]
17470 Water molecules dissociate, and form large polymers, explaining its properties [Weisberg/Needham/Hendry]
17473 It is unlikely that chemistry will ever be reduced to physics [Weisberg/Needham/Hendry]
17474 Quantum theory won't tell us which structure a set of atoms will form [Weisberg/Needham/Hendry]
17475 For temperature to be mean kinetic energy, a state of equilibrium is also required [Weisberg/Needham/Hendry]
17469 'H2O' just gives the element proportions, not the microstructure [Weisberg/Needham/Hendry]
27. Natural Reality / F. Chemistry / 2. Modern Elements
17467 Isotopes (such as those of hydrogen) can vary in their rates of chemical reaction [Weisberg/Needham/Hendry]
27. Natural Reality / F. Chemistry / 3. Periodic Table
17466 Mendeleev systematised the elements, and also gave an account of their nature [Weisberg/Needham/Hendry]