Counterfactual Scheming. Issue 514 (1st April 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Baron, Sam
• Is Part Of: Mind. Volume 129:Issue 514(2020)
• Page Start: 535
• Page End: 562
• Publication Date: 2019-04-01
• Subjects: Philosophy -- Periodicals; Philosophy; Periodicals; 190.5
• DOI: 10.1093/mind/fzz008
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0026-4423

Abstract

Abstract: Mathematics appears to play a genuine explanatory role in science. But how do mathematical explanations work? Recently, a counterfactual approach to mathematical explanation has been suggested. I argue that such a view fails to differentiate the explanatory uses of mathematics within science from the non-explanatory uses. I go on to offer a solution to this problem by combining elements of the counterfactual theory of explanation with elements of a unification theory of explanation. The result is a theory according to which a counterfactual is explanatory when it is an instance of a generalized counterfactual scheme.