성분업의 모형기반 이해와 방법론적 다원주의

초록

Scientists tend to seek unified explanations. The tendency is understandable under the standard epistemic, social, cultural environments of scientific research. Still I argue that the tendency is methodologically unjustifiable by analyzing competing models of sexual division of labor in evolutionary anthropology. In most cases, what we can achieve from scientific research is not a dramatically inclusive and exactly valid universal-theory-based understanding, perhaps exemplified by Newtonian explanation of gravitation. Rather we normally get a model-based understanding which allows us to capture the core of a phenomena and to causally intervene in it, while not entirely covering its every aspect. I also claim that pursuing model-based understanding need not be regarded as 'lazy' as long as some reasonable ontological conditions are met for the success of methodological pluralism.

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