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Sparks of New Metaphysics and the Limits of Explanatory Abstractions

  • Thomas Hauer ORCID logo EMAIL logo
Published/Copyright: February 6, 2024

Abstract

Physical reality as an explanatory model is an abstraction of the mind. Every perceptual system is a user interface, like the dashboard of an aeroplane or the desktop of a computer. We do not see or otherwise perceive reality but only interface with reality. The user interface concept is a starting point for a critical dialogue with those epistemic theories that present themselves as veridical and take explanatory abstractions as ontological primitives. At the heart of any scientific model are assumptions about which things exist, how they are related, and how we can know them. Scientific models take our knowledge beyond ordinary experience toward explanatory abstractions. The main problem with veridical models lies in why we cannot express our theories and the explanatory abstractions associated with them other than through classical perceptual interface symbols. This study analyses the limits, possibilities and constraints of explanatory abstractions.


Corresponding author: Prof. Thomas Hauer, PhD, Faculty of Philosophy and Arts, Department of Philosophy, Trnava University in Trnava, Hornopotocna street 23, 918 43 Trnava, Slovakia, E-mail:

Funding source: Trnava University in Trnava

Award Identifier / Grant number: VEGA 1/0174/21

  1. Research funding: This work was supported by – Trnava University in Trnava, Grant numbers – VEGA 1/0174/21.

  2. Competing interests: Authors are required to disclose financial or non-financial interests that are directly or indirectly related to the work submitted for publication.

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Received: 2023-08-06
Accepted: 2023-11-29
Published Online: 2024-02-06
Published in Print: 2024-04-25

© 2024 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

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