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SUMMARY:Sui generis explanations: scientific progress and scientific reali
 sm - Robert Northcott (Birkbeck\, University of London)
DTSTART:20120222T130000Z
DTEND:20120222T140000Z
UID:TALK35484@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:22487
DESCRIPTION:I argue\, against the literature\, that often scientific progr
 ess does not feature or consist in any theoretical advance. Neither does i
 t feature or consist in the discovery of new mechanisms or causal capaciti
 es. Rather\, it is a matter of establishing causal explanations in a kind 
 of case I label sui generis - where the explanation is specific to the \np
 articular explanandum and cannot usually be exported to other explananda. 
 A characteristic feature of such explanations is that they go well beyond 
 and cannot be derived from our current theories and mechanisms. Neither do
  they advance our stock of knowledge of those. Yet they constitute scienti
 fic progress nevertheless and moreover in sui generis cases are the only w
 ay such progress can be achieved. Furthermore\, I argue that sui generis c
 ases are common and that their ranks likely include some of the most impor
 tant of all policy issues.
LOCATION:Seminar Room 1\, Department of History and Philosophy of Science
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