Document Type
Article
Publication Title
Noûs
Version
Author's Final Manuscript
Volume
49
Publication Date
2015
Abstract
A prominent approach to scientific explanation and modeling claims that for a model to provide an explanation it must accurately represent at least some of the actual causes in the event's causal history. In this paper, I argue that many optimality explanations present a serious challenge to this causal approach. I contend that many optimality models provide highly idealized equilibrium explanations that do not accurately represent the causes of their target system(s). Furthermore, in many contexts, it is in virtue of their independence of causes that optimality models are able to provide a better explanation than competing causal models. Consequently, our account of explanation and modeling must expand beyond the causal approach.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1111/nous.12042
Citation
Rice, Collin. 2015. "Moving Beyond Causes: Optimality Models and Scientific Explanation." Noûs 49.3: 589-615.