Against Rigour: In Favour of Informal Standards for Reduction in Philosophy of Physics
Abstract
Many would regard rigour as self-evidently a virtue in philosophical theorising. By considering two vignettes from recent debates over reduction in philosophy of physics I'll argue that the pursuit of rigour has distracted philosophers from the questions that motivated their research: in both contexts I'll suggest that less rigorous analysis would better enable such questions to be satisfactorily answered. I'll claim that these case studies exemplify aspects of the broadside against rigour developed in Wilson (2021).
Fields of Study & Subjects
Philosophy of Biology and Scientific Explanation
Logic and Philosophy of Science
Philosophy and Theoretical Science
Publication details
- Journal / source
- PhilSci-Archive (University of Pittsburgh)
- Publication date
- 5 March 2026
- Language
- EN
- Document type
- Preprint