Abstract
Mathematics is often taken to play one of two roles in the empirical sciences: either it represents empirical phenomena or it explains these phenomena by imposing constraints on them. This article identifies a third and distinct role that has not been fully appreciated in the literature on applicability of mathematics and may be pervasive in scientific practice. I call this the “bridging” role of mathematics, according to which mathematics acts as a connecting scheme in our explanatory reasoning about why and how two different descriptions of an empirical phenomenon relate to each other. I discuss two bridging roles appearing in biological and physical explanations. © 2021 by the Philosophy of Science Association. All rights reserved.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 686-706 |
| Number of pages | 21 |
| Journal | Philosophy of Science |
| Volume | 88 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| Early online date | 1 Jan 2021 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Oct 2021 |