TY - GEN T1 - Scientific explanation and the causal structure of the world A1 - Salmon, Wesley C. LA - English PP - Princeton, N.J. PB - Princeton University Press YR - 1984 UL - https://ebooks.jgu.edu.in/Record/jstor_eba_on1151179288 AB - The philosophical theory of scientific explanation proposed here involves a radically new treatment of causality that accords with the pervasively statistical character of contemporary science. Wesley C. Salmon describes three fundamental conceptions of scientific explanation--the epistemic, modal, and ontic. He argues that the prevailing view (a version of the epistemic conception) is untenable and that the modal conception is scientifically out-dated. Significantly revising aspects of his earlier work, he defends a causal/mechanical theory that is a version of the ontic conception. Professor Salmon's theory furnishes a robust argument for scientific realism akin to the argument that convinced twentieth-century physical scientists of the existence of atoms and molecules. To do justice to such notions as irreducibly statistical laws and statistical explanation, he offers a novel account of physical randomness. The transition from the "reviewed view" of scientific explanation (that explanations are arguments) to the causal/mechanical model requires fundamental rethinking of basic explanatory concepts OP - 305 CN - Q175 .S23415 1984eb SN - 9780691221489 SN - 0691221480 SN - 0691072930 SN - 9780691072937 KW - Science : Methodology. KW - Science : Philosophy. KW - Sciences : MeĢthodologie. KW - Science : Methodology KW - Science : Philosophy ER -