Physical explanations and biological explanations, empirical laws and a priori laws

Biology and Philosophy 24 (3):359-374 (2009)
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Abstract

Philosophers intent upon characterizing the difference between physics and biology often seize upon the purported fact that physical explanations conform more closely to the covering law model than biological explanations. Central to this purported difference is the role of laws of nature in the explanations of these two sciences. However, I argue that, although certain important differences between physics and biology can be highlighted by differences between physical and biological explanations, these differences are not differences in the degree to which those explanations conform to the covering law model, which fits biology about as well as it does physics.

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References found in this work

Philosophy of natural science.Carl Gustav Hempel - 1966 - Englewood Cliffs, N.J.,: Prentice-Hall.
Explanatory unification.Philip Kitcher - 1981 - Philosophy of Science 48 (4):507-531.
Philosophy of Natural Science.Carl G. Hempel - 1967 - British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 18 (1):70-72.
Philosophy of Biology.Elliott Sober - 1993 - Boulder, Colo.: Routledge.
How is biological explanation possible?Alex Rosenberg - 2001 - British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 52 (4):735-760.

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