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    Kemeny and Oppenheim's purely syntactic model of reductio... — Carmelics
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    Challenges→Even if two theories instantiate a relation of the sort required by Nagel's model, we should not speak of proper reduction if the connection between the domains of the two theories remains too loose to support materialist claims.

    Kemeny and Oppenheim's purely syntactic model of reduction achieves explanatory absorption of one theory by another without any appeal to inter-domain ontological tightness.

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    Reasons For

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    Reason for
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    • 1.Syntactic reduction avoids metaphysical commitments about whether reduced entities truly exist or are mere appearances.
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    • 2.Pure syntax allows one theory to absorb another's explanatory content without requiring entities to be 'really the same thing'.
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    • 3.This model succeeds where ontologically laden approaches fail: it explains reduction in chemistry without settling if molecules are 'real'.
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    Reasons Against

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    • 1.Explanation inherently appeals to what is actually the case; syntax alone cannot establish when one phenomenon genuinely reduces to another.
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    • 2.Without ontological claims about domain-relations, syntactic reduction cannot distinguish genuine reduction from mere reformulation or translation.
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    • 3.Inter-theoretic explanatory success typically presumes entities from one domain are constitutively tied to another—pure syntax obscures this.
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    Related

    Even if two theories instantiate a relation of the sort required by Nagel's mode...Explanation inherently appeals to what is actually the case; syntax alone cannot...Inter-theoretic explanatory success typically presumes entities from one domain ...Pure syntax allows one theory to absorb another's explanatory content without re...
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    Syntactic reduction avoids metaphysical commitments about whether reduced entiti...This model succeeds where ontologically laden approaches fail: it explains reduc...Without ontological claims about domain-relations, syntactic reduction cannot di...

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