Theory of Science & Methodology
Isn’t it the mark of a successful theory of a range of phenomena that it unites and embraces the causally relevant parameters and state variables within a single theoretical perspective? This question suggests that if our theories are successful, then they should produce descriptions of systems according to which the systems are interactionally simple. I […]
The bad news is, first, that there is no reason in general to suppose that an ATE [Average Treatment Effect] observed in one population will hold in others. That is what the slogan widespread now in education and elsewhere registers: “Context matters”. The issue in this paper is not though about when we can expect […]
. Yours truly is fond of science philosophers like Nancy Cartwright. With razor-sharp intellects, they immediately go for the essentials. They have no time for bullshit. And neither should we. These Pufendorf lectures are a must-watch for everyone with an interest in the methodology of science.
That logic should have been thus successful is an advantage which it owes entirely to its limitations, whereby it is justified in abstracting — indeed, it is under obligation to do so — from all objects of knowledge and their differences, leaving the understanding nothing to deal with save itself and its form. But for […]
La philosophie n’est pas une science, ni ne peut l’être. Prétendre le contraire, c’est la vouer immanquablement à l’échec, comme elle l’est en effet, mais aussi à l’illusion ou à la mauvaise foi … Il n’y a pas de démonstration philosophique, et s’il y en avait ce serait la fin de la philosophie – puisqu’elle […]
. Using formal mathematical modelling, mainstream economists sure can guarantee that the conclusions hold given the assumptions. However, the validity we get in abstract model worlds does not warrant transfer to real-world economies. Validity may be good, but it is not enough. Mainstream economists are proud of having an ever-growing smorgasbord of models to cherry-pick […]
A major, and notorious, problem with this approach, at least in the domain of science, concerns how to ascribe objective prior probabilities to hypotheses. What seems to be necessary is that we list all the possible hypotheses in some domain and distribute probabilities among them, perhaps ascribing the same probability to each employing the principal […]
If we do not fully explain by adding more variables, how do we explain? Mechanisms explain because they embody an invariant property. The first mechanism, linking the gas pedal to the rotating drivetrain, is combustion: The second mechanism, linking the rotating drivetrain to acceleration, is the relationship of torque to force. Combustion is a high […]