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Scientific Explanation and Sklar's Views of Space and Time

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 April 2022

Paul Wolfson  and
James Woodward
Paul Wolfson
Affiliation:
West Chester State College, University of Wisconsin, La Crosse
James Woodward
Affiliation:
West Chester State College, University of Wisconsin, La Crosse
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Abstract

We examine critically the interdependence between science and philosophy which Sklar asserts in Space, Time, and Spacetime. We find that such a view makes it difficult to criticize the ideas of science, like that of absolute space, on their own merits, without importing extraneous philosophical associations. It also impedes appreciation of the importance, and subtlety, of explanation in scientific theory. As a result, particular explanations, such as the one Newton offered of his bucket experiment, are dismissed facilely—indeed, all geometric explanation appears illegitimate—, and such general attitudes as conventionalism appear to lack rationale.

Type
Research Article
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 46 , Issue 2 , June 1979 , pp. 287 - 294
Copyright
Copyright © Philosophy of Science Association 1979

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