Central and East European
Society for Phenomenology

Repository | Book | Chapter

186026

Explaining laws by reduction

Erik Weber

pp. 109-116

Abstract

Scientific explanations have been intensively studied by philosophers of science during the last five decades. Explanations of laws did not receive as much attention as explanations of particular facts. In this article, I present a model for one type of explanations of laws: reductions of laws to phenomena at a micro-level. Examples of such reductions can be found in the natural sciences (the ideal gas law is probably the most famous example here) and in the social sciences (e.g., reduction of macroeconomic laws to the behaviour of individual economic agents).

Publication details

Published in:

Rojszczak Artur, Cachro Jacek, Kurczewski Gabriel (2003) Philosophical dimensions of logic and science: selected contributed papers from the 11th international congress of logic, methodology, and philosophy of science, Kraków, 1999. Dordrecht, Springer.

Pages: 109-116

DOI: 10.1007/978-94-017-2612-2_9

Full citation:

Weber Erik (2003) „Explaining laws by reduction“, In: A. Rojszczak, J. Cachro & G. Kurczewski (eds.), Philosophical dimensions of logic and science, Dordrecht, Springer, 109–116.