A pluralistic account of scientific explanation and reduction: Lessons from history and multiscale modeling

Abstract

This thesis analyzes the history of scientific explanation and theory reduction in the 20thcentury and offers a pluralist account of both explanation and reduction. The lessons from assuming nomological, causal, and multiscale approaches across a variety of disciplines push back against a monistic, theory-first account of explanation that ignores scientific practice. Instead, I argue that looking at examples from contemporary scientific practice demonstrates the need for a pluralistic model of scientific explanation with an incorporation of a reinterpreted conception of reduction. The pluralistic approach to both scientific explanation and reduction avoid the problems of historical accounts, accords with scientific practice and is sensitive to the epistemic constraints around explaining physical phenomena.