The idealizational aspect of the laws of classic thermodynamics: what does it consist of?

Authors

DOI: https://doi.org/10.6018/daimon.379781
Keywords: idealization, concretization, scientific explanation, scientific laws, scientific realism

Abstract

In the second half of the twentieth century Nowak complained that laws and scientific theories have an idealizational aspect that was ignored by most philosophers of science who considered the nomological deductive model of explanation as correct. Therefore, he advanced an alternative model of scientific explanation named “explanation by gradual concretization” by Hanzel, who examined, criticized and improved it at the end of the last century. Both authors reconstructed several scientific theories using their proposed framework disregarding classic thermodynamics almost completely. For this reason, is intended here to deploy such framework in order to reconstruct these laws and to determine precisely of what does consist their idealizational character as well as the implications it has on the realist interpretation of thermodynamics.

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Published
01-01-2024
How to Cite
Rojas Durán, E. E. (2024). The idealizational aspect of the laws of classic thermodynamics: what does it consist of?. Daimon Revista Internacional de Filosofia, (91), 101–119. https://doi.org/10.6018/daimon.379781
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