On the pragmatic equivalence between representing data and phenomena
Nguyen, James
(2016)
On the pragmatic equivalence between representing data and phenomena
Philosophy of Science, 83 (2).
pp. 171-191.
ISSN 0031-8248
Van Fraassen argues that data provide the target-end structures required by structuralist accounts of scientific representation. But models represent phenomena not data. Van Fraassen agrees but argues that there is no pragmatic difference between taking a scientific model to accurately represent a physical system and accurately represent data extracted from it. In this article I reconstruct his argument and show that it turns on the false premise that the pragmatic content of acts of representation include doxastic commitments.
| Item Type | Article |
|---|---|
| Departments | Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method |
| DOI | 10.1086/684959 |
| Date Deposited | 14 Mar 2016 12:09 |
| URI | https://researchonline.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/65717 |
Explore Further
- http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/toc/phos/current (Official URL)
Downloads
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6919-1365