The structure of asymptotic idealization
The structure of asymptotic idealization
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渐近理想化的结构
作者：
M. Strevens
罗伯特·巴特曼和其他人认为，某些理想化的解释有一种渐近的形式：他们通过表明一种事件或行为出现在“极限中”来解释它的状态。渐近理想化在许多方面都很有趣，但作为理想化，它们有什么特别之处吗？为了理解它们在科学中的作用，我们必须增强我们理想化的哲学理论吗？本文利用种群遗传学中的渐近理想化的简单例子来论证一个肯定的答案，并从巴特曼的处理和约翰·诺顿随后的批评中获得了渐近理想化的一般模式。
Robert Batterman and others have argued that certain idealizing explanations have an asymptotic form: they account for a state of affairs or behavior by showing that it emerges “in the limit”. Asymptotic idealizations are interesting in many ways, but is there anything special about them as idealizations? To understand their role in science, must we augment our philosophical theories of idealization? This paper uses simple examples of asymptotic idealization in population genetics to argue for an affirmative answer and proposes a general schema for asymptotic idealization, drawing on insights from Batterman’s treatment and from John Norton’s subsequent critique.