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The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 2001 52(4):683-700; doi:10.1093/bjps/52.4.683
© 2001 by British Society for the Philosophy of Science
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Has Chaos Been Explained?

Jeffrey Koperski1

1 Department of Philosophy, Saginaw Valley State University, 7400 Bay Road, University Center, MI 48710, USA. koperski{at}svsu.edu

In his recent book, Explaining Chaos, Peter Smith presents a new problem in the foundations of chaos theory. Specifically, he argues that the standard ways of justifying idealizations in mathematical models fail when it comes to the infinite intricacy found in strange attractors. I argue that Smith's analysis undermines much of the explanatory power of chaos theory. A better approach is developed by drawing analogies from the models found in continuum mechanics.


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