What Is the Paradox of Phase Transitions?

Abstract

Abstract:I present a novel approach to the recent scholarly debate that has arisen with respect to the philosophical import one should infer from scientific accounts of "Phase Transitions," by appealing to a distinction between "representation" understood as "denotation," and "faithful representation" understood as a type of "guide to ontology." It is argued that the entire debate of phase transitions is misguided for it stems from a pseudo-paradox that does not license the type of claims made by scholars, and that what is really interesting about phase transition is the manner by which they force us to rethink issues regarding scientific representation.

Infinitesimal idealization, easy road nominalism, and fractional quantum statistics

“…8 What is interesting about the anyon case study is that it appeals to a kind of infinitesimal idealization-a two--dimensional model of quantum mechanics-that in turn seems to play an essential role in the scientific account of anyons. This is similar to other infinite idealizations, such as thermodynamic--type limits for phase transitions and spontaneous symmetry breaking (Batterman 2002(Batterman , 2005Ruetsche 2011;Shech 2013), and infinitesimal idealizations, such as in the context of the quantum--classical limit (Batterman 2002, Bokulich 2008, which purportedly play an indispensible explanatory role. 9 Thus, in fleshing out the consequences of fractional quantum statistics for Leng's approach to easy road nominalism, I am attempting to fill a lacuna in the easy road nominalism debate.…”

“…I take it that one of her main points is that Baron's (2016) account seems to presuppose that we can distinguish between idealized objects, properties, systems, models, etc., one the one hand, and abstract mathematical (but Butterfield (2011), Menon andCallender (2013), Norton (2012), andShech (2013). See Kadanof (2000) for a standard introductory text and Ruelle (2004) for rigorous results.…”

Infinite idealizations in physics

“…Last, by making use of the distinction between abstract and concrete objects, Shech () argues that even if the TDL is an indispensable idealization, this still does not warrant the conclusion that PT are irreducible emergent phenomena. He also questions the compatibility of the TDL with scientific realism, a topic that is developed by Liu (), who argues that infinite idealizations are compatible with contextual realism.…”

Infinite idealizations in science: an introduction

“…In light of such work, a heated debate regarding the nature and role of infinite idealizations ensued with some defending the indispensable explanatory role of idealizations and the connection with emergence (Rueger 2000(Rueger , 2006Batterman 2005;Bokulich 2008;Bangu 2009;Morrison 2012), others taking a more deflationary and reductionistic approach (Earman 2004;Wayne 2009;Butterfield 2011;Norton 2012;Menon and Callender 2013), and still others attempting to develop midway positions (Ruetsche 2011;Shech 2013). Various questions arise:…”