Paradigms explanation

Paradigms are also closely shaven by Ockham s razor. The principle that what is simplest is best may legitimize a paradigm, and monophyly is as simple as it gets. However, Ockham s razor may cut too finely when the simplest explanation is inadequate. As illustrated above, SET and LGT are not simple, but they are supported by evidence. Indeed, a monophylic explanation for the data supporting SET and LGT would have to be rejected by Ockham s razor as unnecessarily complicated . 

In order to see the distinctive problems for antireductionism, consider a paradigm of putative irreducible functional explanation advanced by antireductionists. 

A useful discovery was that the paradigm which had explained the phenomenology of the polymerisations of isobutene by A1C13 [112] was also useful for understanding why in the polymerisations of, for example, styrene by strong protonic acids, only a very small fraction of the acid is consumed, for which no plausible explanation had been put forward previously. It involves the formation of strong complexes also by protonic acids whith the alkenic monomers. 

A careful inspection of several examples [51-54] leads to the conclusion that the O-coordination is produced trans to a soft (C or P) atom, while C-coordi-nation mainly occurs trans to a harder (N) atom. Complex (12) is the paradigm of this selectivity on bonding modes and sites [53] the C-bonded yhde is found trans to the N atom while the N-bonded ylide is trans to the paUadated C atom. In spite of this puzzling appearance (Scheme 5), the consideration of the nature of the donor atoms and the antisymbiotic behavior of the Pd center [55] provides a sensible explanation of the observed reactivity [21]. 

Cosmology with supernovae has developed over the second half of the last century. Their extreme luminosities always made them attractive candidates to measure large distances. Various methods were devised to use supernovae to measure cosmological parameters ranging from simple standard candle paradigms to physical explanations of the supernova explosions and subsequent derivation of distances. Essentially, supernovae have been used to determine luminosity distances, i.e. the comparison of the observed flux to the total emitted radiation. The trick is to find a reliable way to measure the absolute luminosity of the objects. 

The major conceptual limitation of all regression techniques is that one can only ascertain relationships, but one can never be sure about underlying causal mechanism. The explanation of conclusions with the assistance of other sciences would avoid reaching nonsense conclusions. A hypothetical paradigm can be to use the electronic nose for detecting the adulteration of refined olive oil with refined seed oils when these kinds of oils do not contain volatiles (refined process of vegetable oils includes the deodorization). 

One possible approach to the resolution of this dilemma might be termed the way of the shaman one dispenses with all attempts at reductionist analysis and simply accepts the experience on its own terms, perhaps as a divine revelation from a source outside the self—a god within a plant, for instance. Indeed, the psychedelic experience is so profound and overwhelming that even scientifically sophisticated individuals can easily succumb to the misperception that the trip is in the drug. The alternative response, which might be characterized as the way of the alchemist, is to become utterly obsessional in the seeking of reductive explanations, and to construct wildly elaborate models in an attempt to integrate the irreducible reality of what is experienced into some scientific or, more often, quasi-scientific paradigm. This book tries, unsuccessfully perhaps, to steer a middle course between these two approaches. 

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