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What's Wrong with Invisible-Hand Explanations?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 April 2022

David L. Hull
David L. Hull*
Affiliation:
Northwestern University
*
†Department of Philosophy, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208.
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Abstract

An invisible hand seems to play an important role in science. In this paper I set out the general structure of invisible-hand explanations, counter some objections that have been raised to them, and detail the role that they play in science. The most important issue is the character of the mechanisms that are supposed to bring about invisible-hand effects.

Type
Symposium: The Use of Economic Concepts in Contemporary Philosophy of Science
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 64 , Issue S4: Supplement. Proceedings of the 1996 Biennial Meetings of the Philosophy of Science Association. Part II: Symposia Papers Dec., 1997 , 1997 , pp. S117 - S126
Copyright
Copyright © Philosophy of Science Association 1997

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Footnotes

‡

I would like to thank Toni Carey, Arthur Diamond, Peter Godfrey-Smith, D. Wade Hands, Alistair M. Macleod, Philip Mirowski, J. Tim O'Meara, George Reisch, and Miriam Solomon for reading and commenting on early drafts of this paper.

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