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Darcy’s Law and Structural Explanation in Hydrology

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 February 2022

James R. Hofmann  and
Paul A. Hofmann
James R. Hofmann
Affiliation:
California State University, Fullerton
Paul A. Hofmann
Affiliation:
New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology
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Extract

According to a recent argument, models play two essential roles in the argumentative structure of solid state physics and chemistry (Hofmann 1990). On the one hand, models are the culmination of phenomenological description. That is, models are idealized representations of the molecular structures thought to be causally responsible for the processes experimentally monitored and measured. Secondly, dieoretical physicists and chemists require that models ultimately be cast in a mathematical form appropriate for the application of the Schroedinger equation. In this respect models become the means through which the Schroedinger equation gives a theoretical unity to what would otherwise be a disparate set of empirical phenomenological laws and descriptions with limited scope. That is, it is an important theoretical goal to show that experimentally generated phenomenological laws can be approximately derived through an application of the Schroedinger equation to a necessarily idealized and simplified mathematical description of the relevant system. The two functions of models are not incompatible, but they do reflect two distinct theoretical orientations toward the interpretation of data.

Type
Part I. Methodology and Explanation
Information
PSA: Proceedings of the Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association , Volume 1992 , Issue 1: Volume One: Contributed Papers 1992 , 1992 , pp. 23 - 35
Copyright
Copyright © 1992 by the Philosophy of Science Association

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