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    If theories are constituents of scientific practice and t... — Carmelics
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    Challenges→Ontological reduction is distinct from epistemic reduction in terms of the nature of its relata

    If theories are constituents of scientific practice and thus of reality, the relata of epistemic reduction are also non-representational in the relevant ontological sense.

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    Reasons For

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    Reason for
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    • 1.Scientific theories are embedded in laboratory practices, instrumentation, and social institutions, not merely abstract representations.
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    • 2.If theories constitutively shape what counts as 'reality' within science, then reducing theories requires reducing these material-social constituents.
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    • 3.Representationalism assumes theories mirror independent facts, but practices actively construct epistemic objects, making representation secondary.
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    Reasons Against

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    • 1.Theories can be constituents of practice without being constituents of reality itself; conflating these categories commits a category error.
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    • 2.Non-representational ontology faces the problem: if theories don't represent reality, what makes scientific predictions causally effective?
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    • 3.The claim assumes 'relata of reduction' must have identical ontological status, but reduction often relates entities of fundamentally different kinds.
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    Related

    If theories constitutively shape what counts as 'reality' within science, then r...Non-representational ontology faces the problem: if theories don't represent rea...Ontological reduction is distinct from epistemic reduction in terms of the natur...Representationalism assumes theories mirror independent facts, but practices act...
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    Scientific theories are embedded in laboratory practices, instrumentation, and s...The claim assumes 'relata of reduction' must have identical ontological status, ...Theories can be constituents of practice without being constituents of reality i...

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