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The Philosophy of Science and Engineering DesignAssessing the Explanatory Relevance of Ascriptions of Technical Functions

The Philosophy of Science and Engineering Design: Assessing the Explanatory Relevance of... [In this chapter we assess the explanatory utility of ascriptions of technical functions by considering two explanation-seeking contexts that often figure in the philosophical literature on functions (and explanations). Applied to the technical domain, these are: (i) why was artifact x produced?, and (ii) why does artifact x not have the expected capacity to ϕ? We argue that function ascriptions are explanatorily irrelevant for the first explanation-seeking question, and are explanatorily relevant for the second one. We argue these points in terms of the desideratum that explanations should only list difference making factors.] http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png

The Philosophy of Science and Engineering DesignAssessing the Explanatory Relevance of Ascriptions of Technical Functions

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Publisher
Springer International Publishing
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2016
ISBN
978-3-319-35154-4
Pages
1 –15
DOI
10.1007/978-3-319-35155-1_1
Publisher site
See Chapter on Publisher Site

Abstract

[In this chapter we assess the explanatory utility of ascriptions of technical functions by considering two explanation-seeking contexts that often figure in the philosophical literature on functions (and explanations). Applied to the technical domain, these are: (i) why was artifact x produced?, and (ii) why does artifact x not have the expected capacity to ϕ? We argue that function ascriptions are explanatorily irrelevant for the first explanation-seeking question, and are explanatorily relevant for the second one. We argue these points in terms of the desideratum that explanations should only list difference making factors.]

Published: Aug 21, 2016

Keywords: Technical function; Explanatory relevance; Difference making

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