SCIENTIFIC EXPLANATION, THEORY CHANGE, AND EPISTEMIC BOUNDARIES IN CONTEMPORARY PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE

SCIENTIFIC EXPLANATION, THEORY CHANGE, AND EPISTEMIC BOUNDARIES IN CONTEMPORARY PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE Artemi Sokolov Leonid Averin

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SCIENTIFIC EXPLANATION, THEORY CHANGE, AND EPISTEMIC BOUNDARIES IN CONTEMPORARY PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE 2026 Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) 10.5281/zenodo.20073948 sokolov2026-scientific-explanation-theory-chan sokolov2026-scientific-explanation-theory-chan.txt, the project's staged copy cee738a8d90d98187e2d23932412f55e1bd4aae0 open-access philosophy-of-science

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0 spans located by searching the stored text for the quote's exact words, allowing any whitespace between them critique Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. scientific explanation and theory change Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. review review Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. mechanisms Objectivity is produced, not presupposed: structuring methods and communities so that criticism, transparency and diverse perspectives circulate prevents any single bias or standpoint from going unchecked, which is what makes objective claims possible in a socially organised practice Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. mechanisms Realist commitment survives theory change because what is carried across revolutions is the structural content of superseded theories — their relational organisation, mathematical form and dependency patterns — rather than their full ontology Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. mechanisms The pluralisation of explanation was driven by the demand for rigour itself: holding accounts answerable to actual scientific practice forced the abandonment of a single universal schema Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. The account of what a term means is taken from an encyclopedia entry rather than from the literature the entry summarises. what this limits: any position attributed here to the incommensurability literature: it is reported from the Stanford Encyclopedia entry on incommensurability rather than from the primary sources that entry summarises Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. The paper reports that competing theories may have no shared standard by which to compare them. what this limits: any comparison of two theories drawn from this article: it reports the Kuhnian picture as implying Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. Carrying a result from a model to the thing modelled is stated not to be automatic, even in the easiest case. what this limits: any inference from a scientific model to its target: the article reports that even scale models are faithful only Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. One of the paper's central terms is reported to name several distinct problems rather than one. what this limits: the notion of representation as used in this article: it is reported that no single problem of representation exists and that there are instead multiple distinct issues Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. scientific explanation scientific explanation Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. deductive-nomological model deductive-nomological model Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. incommensurability incommensurability Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. scientific realism scientific realism Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. theory change theory change Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. Mechanistic accounts Mechanistic accounts Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. unificationist accounts unificationist accounts Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. pragmatic accounts of explanation pragmatic accounts of explanation Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. explanatory pluralism explanatory pluralism Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. underdetermination underdetermination Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. Constructive empiricism Constructive empiricism Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. Structural realism Structural realism Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. empirical adequacy empirical adequacy Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. truth about unobservables truth about unobservables Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. structural content structural content Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. full ontology full ontology Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. objectivity objectivity Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. elimination of all values and perspectives elimination of all values and perspectives Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. Constructive empiricism → empirical adequacy Constructive empiricism limits theory acceptance to belief in empirical adequacy. This epistemic-standard relation is not is-a, part-of, same-as, distinct-from, contrasted-with, operationalised-as, causes, or renamed-across-fields. Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. Structural realism → structural content Structural realism identifies structural content as what may be preserved across theory change. Preservation-across-change is not is-a, part-of, same-as, distinct-from, contrasted-with, operationalised-as, causes, or renamed-across-fields. Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. incommensurability - A CHANGED MEANING THAT THEN SPLIT IN TWO: originally lack of common measure, and later divided by philosophical discussion into conceptual and methodological incommensurability, so the word names an older idea and two newer ones at once Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. explanation - SEVERAL MODELS, EACH PRESUPPOSING A DIFFERENT IMAGE OF SCIENCE: discussion begins with lawful derivation and later adds causal, mechanistic, unificationist and pragmatic alternatives, and the article says the sequence matters because the models are not interchangeable accounts of one thing Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. representation - NOT ONE PROBLEM BUT SEVERAL: the article reports that no single problem of representation exists, so a claim that a model represents its target is selective, purpose-relative and mediated by inference rather than a single relation Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. Mechanistic accounts - explain through organized constitution and causal production Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. Unificationist accounts - explain apparently different phenomena through a smaller set of patterns or principles Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. Pragmatic accounts of explanation - evaluate explanations relative to inquiry roles and explanatory interests Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. Explanatory pluralism - multiple models remain necessary across disciplines with different targets and methods Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. Underdetermination - the evidence at a time may not determine which beliefs to adopt Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. Constructive empiricism - accepting a theory means believing it empirically adequate, not literally true about unobservables Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. Structural realism - preserves realist commitment by privileging structural continuity over full ontology Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. Empirical adequacy - the scientific aim constructive empiricism endorses Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. Truth about unobservables - the aim constructive empiricism contrasts with empirical adequacy Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. Structural content - what may survive historical theory change more reliably than ontology Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. Full ontology - what structural realism does not claim is reliably retained across discarded theories Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. Objectivity - a disciplined communal and methodological achievement, not perspective-free access Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. Elimination of all values and perspectives - explicitly rejected as the richer meaning of objectivity Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. builds-on → Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entries on scientific realism and scientific objectivity Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. EVIDENCE CORRECTED (RE-GROUNDED) · scientific explanation —operationalised-as→ deductive-nomological model scientific explanation deductive-nomological model EVIDENCE CORRECTED: RE-GROUNDED. The old span began at 'Quotation withheld…', dropping the subject that makes it a claim about scientific explanation at all. — strength of the relation: 1 Audit 2026-09-28: DOUBTFUL - read against its full span and kept, but attributed: the span reports how the SEP says modern discussion of explanation began. Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. scientific realism —contrasted-with→ theory change scientific realism theory change strength of the relation: 1 Audit 2026-09-28: DOUBTFUL - read against its full span and kept, but attributed: the span reports the SEP entry's framing of the challenge from theory change. Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. empirical adequacy —distinct-from→ truth about unobservables empirical adequacy truth about unobservables the relation itself is separately evidenced · strength of the relation: 1 · note: The article states the contrast directly with 'rather than'. Audit 2026-09-28: DOUBTFUL - read against its full span and kept, but attributed: the span reports what constructive empiricism 'can hold'. Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. structural content —distinct-from→ full ontology structural content full ontology the relation itself is separately evidenced · strength of the relation: 0.7 · note: The article says structural content may be what survives, so the relation keeps that modal hedge at 0.7. Audit 2026-09-28: DOUBTFUL - read against its full span and kept, but the span says structural realism SUGGESTS what science MAY preserve; hedged. Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. objectivity —distinct-from→ elimination of all values and perspectives objectivity elimination of all values and perspectives the relation itself is separately evidenced · strength of the relation: 1 · note: The article explicitly says objectivity is not elimination of all values and perspectives, but disciplined management of their influence. Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. The article's central claim is that philosophy of science should be read not as a hunt for one timeless criterion of rationality but as the study of how explanation, empirical adequacy, objectivity, progress and ontological commitment are coordinated and contested within changing scientific practice. Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. Epistemic boundaries are negotiated limits. Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. Explanation is increasingly treated as a family of related epistemic achievements rather than one formal relation. Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. Realism becomes selective and model-sensitive, objectivity procedural, social and critical, and progress multi-dimensional rather than simply cumulative. Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. Science can progress along several dimensions - empirical adequacy, explanatory reach, conceptual articulation, representational power, intervention and critical self-correction - which need not move together. Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. The article's twofold conclusion is that monistic images of science misdescribe the heterogeneity of its models, methods and history, and that this heterogeneity nevertheless does not license epistemic despair about scientific authority. Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. If observation is never fully independent of theoretical commitments, explanation cannot be a simple one-way derivation from pure empirical givens. Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. The article characterises the resulting stance of the field as fallibilist without cynicism, historically informed without anti-rationalism, and pluralist without indiscriminateness. Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. scientific realism scientific realism Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. constructive empiricism constructive empiricism Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. underdetermination underdetermination Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. scientific objectivity scientific objectivity Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. incommensurability incommensurability Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. scientific progress scientific progress Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. scientific pluralism scientific pluralism Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. deductive-nomological model deductive-nomological model Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. syntactic view syntactic view Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. semantic view semantic view Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution. pragmatic view pragmatic view Quotation withheld because this record is not cleared for redistribution.

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