A deductive-nomological model for mathematical scientific explanation

• Autor(es): Castro, Eduardo
• Data: 2020
• Identificador Persistente: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.6/10379
• Origem: uBibliorum
• Assunto(s): Explanation; Mathematics; DN model; Causation; Science
• Tipo de Documento: Artigo científico
• Idioma: Inglês
• Contribuidor(es): uBibliorum

Descrição

I propose a deductive-nomological model for mathematical scientific explanation. In this regard, I modify Hempel’s deductive-nomological model and test it against some of the following recent paradigmatic examples of the mathematical explanation of empirical facts: the seven bridges of Königsberg, the North American synchronized cicadas, and Hénon-Heiles Hamiltonian systems. I argue that mathematical scientific explanations that invoke laws of nature are qualitative explanations, and ordinary scientific explanations that employ mathematics are quantitative explanations. I analyse the repercussions of this deductivenomological model on causal explanations.