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The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 1996 47(1):93-112; doi:10.1093/bjps/47.1.93
© 1996 by British Society for the Philosophy of Science
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Simple Theories of a Messy World: Truth and Explanatory Power in Nonlinear Dynamics

Alexander Rueger and W. David Sharp

Department of Philosophy, University of Alberta Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T6G 2E5

Philosophers like Duhem and Cartwright have argued that there is a tension between laws' abilities to explain and to represent. Abstract laws exemplify the first quality, phenomenological laws the second. This view has both metaphysical and methodological aspects: the world is too complex to be represented by simple theories; supplementing simple theories to make them represent reality blocks their confirmation. We argue that both aspects are incompatible with recent developments in nonlinear dynamics. Confirmation procedures and modelling strategies in nonlinear dynamics show that there are simple, abstract theories that can be confirmed without encountering the problems pointed to by Cartwright.


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