Deidealization: no easy reversals

Knuuttila, Tarja and Morgan, Mary S. (2019) Deidealization: no easy reversals. Philosophy of Science, 86 (4). 641 - 661. ISSN 0031-8248

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Abstract

Deidealization as a topic in its own right has attracted remarkably little philosophical interest despite the extensive literature on idealization. One reason for this is the often implicit assumption that idealization and deidealization are, potentially at least, reversible processes. We question this assumption by analyzing the challenges of deidealization within a menu of four broad categories: deidealizing as recomposing, deidealizing as reformulating, deidealizing as concretizing, and deidealizing as situating. On closer inspection, models turn out much more inflexible than the reversal thesis would have us believe, and deidealization emerges as a creative part of modeling.

Item Type:	Article
Official URL:	https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/toc/phos/current
Additional Information:	© 2019 Philosophy of Science Association
Divisions:	Economic History
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > B Philosophy (General)
Date Deposited:	30 Sep 2019 11:12
Last Modified:	16 Apr 2024 17:30
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/101772

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