Mechanisms and Models

Drawing on the work of William Bechtel and Ronald§Giere, the book §outlines an interpretive framework for the study of§the sciences §based on mechanisms and models rather than laws. The§first part §looks at the history of mathematics and mechanistic§explanation, §which developed hand in hand in the 17th century and§provided §support for the idea that scientific knowledge is§epitomized by laws §of nature. The second part develops a framework for§mechanistic §explanation that is not based primarily on laws. The§third part §presents a model-based account of scientific§explanation and a §naturalized account of reasoning and judgment, in§which scientists §are seen as constructing models that are similar to§various aspects §of the real world rather than discovering universal§generalizations, §or laws of nature, the truth of which can be§warranted by the §employment of universal principles of rationality§that can be §justified a priori; and the use of models to§represent the world can §only be understood within the context of scientific§practice, in which §interests and purposes, as well as empirical§observations, play a role §in determining what models are proposed,