Unification and Explanation: Explanation as a Prototype Concept. A Reply to Weber and van Dyck, Gijsberg, and de Regt
<em></em>In this paper I investigate unification as a virtue of explanation. I the first part of the paper (sec. 1-2) I give a brief exposition of the unification account of Schurz and Lambert (1994) and Schurz (1999). I illustrate the advantages of this account in comparison to the olde...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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University of the Basque Country
2014-02-01
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| Series: | Theoria |
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| Online Access: | http://www.ehu.es/ojs/index.php/THEORIA/article/view/8729 |
| _version_ | 1818548523570823168 |
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| author | Gerhard Schurz |
| author_facet | Gerhard Schurz |
| author_sort | Gerhard Schurz |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | <em></em>In this paper I investigate unification as a virtue of explanation. I the first part of the paper (sec. 1-2) I give a brief exposition of the unification account of Schurz and Lambert (1994) and Schurz (1999). I illustrate the advantages of this account in comparison to the older unification accounts of Friedman (1974) and Kitcher (1981). In the second part (sec. 3) I discuss several comments and objections to the Schurz-Lambert account that were raised by Weber and van Dyck (2002), Gijsberg (2007) and de Regt (2005). In the third and final part (sec. 4), I argue that explanation should be understood as a prototype concept which contains nomic expectability, causality and unification as prototypical virtues of explanations, although none of these virtues provides a sufficient and necessary "defining condition" of explanation. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-12T08:21:10Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-8a5676015a064e5d877654780e149ebc |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 0495-4548 2171-679X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-12T08:21:10Z |
| publishDate | 2014-02-01 |
| publisher | University of the Basque Country |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Theoria |
| spelling | doaj.art-8a5676015a064e5d877654780e149ebc2022-12-22T00:31:23ZengUniversity of the Basque CountryTheoria0495-45482171-679X2014-02-01291577010.1387/theoria.87298576Unification and Explanation: Explanation as a Prototype Concept. A Reply to Weber and van Dyck, Gijsberg, and de RegtGerhard Schurz0University of Duesseldorf Department of Philosophy<em></em>In this paper I investigate unification as a virtue of explanation. I the first part of the paper (sec. 1-2) I give a brief exposition of the unification account of Schurz and Lambert (1994) and Schurz (1999). I illustrate the advantages of this account in comparison to the older unification accounts of Friedman (1974) and Kitcher (1981). In the second part (sec. 3) I discuss several comments and objections to the Schurz-Lambert account that were raised by Weber and van Dyck (2002), Gijsberg (2007) and de Regt (2005). In the third and final part (sec. 4), I argue that explanation should be understood as a prototype concept which contains nomic expectability, causality and unification as prototypical virtues of explanations, although none of these virtues provides a sufficient and necessary "defining condition" of explanation.http://www.ehu.es/ojs/index.php/THEORIA/article/view/8729Unification, Explanation, Prototype concept |
| spellingShingle | Gerhard Schurz Unification and Explanation: Explanation as a Prototype Concept. A Reply to Weber and van Dyck, Gijsberg, and de Regt Theoria Unification, Explanation, Prototype concept |
| title | Unification and Explanation: Explanation as a Prototype Concept. A Reply to Weber and van Dyck, Gijsberg, and de Regt |
| title_full | Unification and Explanation: Explanation as a Prototype Concept. A Reply to Weber and van Dyck, Gijsberg, and de Regt |
| title_fullStr | Unification and Explanation: Explanation as a Prototype Concept. A Reply to Weber and van Dyck, Gijsberg, and de Regt |
| title_full_unstemmed | Unification and Explanation: Explanation as a Prototype Concept. A Reply to Weber and van Dyck, Gijsberg, and de Regt |
| title_short | Unification and Explanation: Explanation as a Prototype Concept. A Reply to Weber and van Dyck, Gijsberg, and de Regt |
| title_sort | unification and explanation explanation as a prototype concept a reply to weber and van dyck gijsberg and de regt |
| topic | Unification, Explanation, Prototype concept |
| url | http://www.ehu.es/ojs/index.php/THEORIA/article/view/8729 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT gerhardschurz unificationandexplanationexplanationasaprototypeconceptareplytoweberandvandyckgijsbergandderegt |