Journal article
Sophistry about symmetries?
- Abstract:
- A common adage runs that, given a theory manifesting symmetries, the syntax of that theory should be modified in order to construct a new theory, from which symmetry-variant structure of the original theory has been excised. Call this strategy for explicating the underlying ontology of symmetry-related models reduction. Recently, Dewar has proposed an alternative to reduction as a means of articulating the ontology of symmetry-related models—what he calls (external) sophistication, in which the semantics of the original theory is modified, and symmetry-related models of that theory are treated as if they are isomorphic. In this paper, we undertake a critical evaluation of sophistication about symmetries—we find the programme underdeveloped in a number of regards. In addition, we clarify the interplay between sophistication about symmetries, and a separate debate to which Dewar has contributed—viz., that between interpretational versus motivational approaches to symmetry transformations.
- Publication status:
- Published
- Peer review status:
- Peer reviewed
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(Preview, Version of record, 517.8KB, Terms of use)
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- Publisher copy:
- 10.1007/s11229-020-02658-4
Authors
- Publisher:
- Springer
- Journal:
- Synthese More from this journal
- Volume:
- 199
- Pages:
- 315-344
- Publication date:
- 2021-05-15
- Acceptance date:
- 2020-04-08
- DOI:
- EISSN:
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1573-0964
- ISSN:
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0039-7857
- Language:
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English
- Keywords:
- Pubs id:
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1099071
- Local pid:
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pubs:1099071
- Deposit date:
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2020-04-08
Terms of use
- Copyright holder:
- Martens and Read
- Copyright date:
- 2021
- Rights statement:
- Copyright © 2021 The Author(s). This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
- Licence:
- CC Attribution (CC BY)
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