Fundamental Laws and Physical Reality

Kroes, Peter; Sarlemijn, Andries

doi:10.1016/b978-0-444-88019-2.50018-0

Cited by 1 publication

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“…Kroes and Sarlemijn claim that the distinction between phenomenological laws and fundamental laws is not sufficiently precise (Kroes and Sarlemijn 1989). Using the example of the Van der Waals equation, they point out that the law is phenomenological in the sense that its two parameters must be specified experimentally.…”

Section: Models Phenomena and Structural Explanationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Darcy’s Law and Structural Explanation in Hydrology

Hofmann

1992

PSA. Proc. Bien. Meet. Philos. Sci. Assoc.

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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.

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Section: Models Phenomena and Structural Explanationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Darcy’s Law and Structural Explanation in Hydrology

Hofmann

1992

PSA. Proc. Bien. Meet. Philos. Sci. Assoc.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Fundamental Laws and Physical Reality

Cited by 1 publication

References 4 publications

Darcy’s Law and Structural Explanation in Hydrology

Darcy’s Law and Structural Explanation in Hydrology

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