Understanding Abstracting Structural Explanations

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Abstract
In the literature on explanation, philosophers have proposed different conceptions of structural explanations. In this paper, I explore how several seemingly disparate accounts of structural explanation can be tied together with a central notion of abstraction borrowed from the philosophy of mathematics. Some explanations involve abstracting from a subject as an individual to seeing that individual as a node in a network of explanatory relations. I will then tie this account of structural explanation by abstraction to Wilkenfeld’s (2019) account of understanding to show how this class of structural explanations by abstraction is understanding-conducive.
Abstract ID :
PSA2022351
Submission Type
Topic 1

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University of Pittsburgh

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