Derivational Robustness and Indirect Confirmation

Abstract

Derivational robustness may increase the degree to which various pieces of evidence indirectly confirm a robust result. There are two ways in which this increase may come about. First, if one can show that a result is robust, and that the various individual models used to derive it also have other confirmed results, these other results may indirectly confirm the robust result. Confirmation derives from the fact that data not known to bear on a result are shown to be relevant when it is shown to be robust. Second, robustness may increase the degree to which the robust result is indirectly confirmed if it increases the weight with which existing evidence indirectly confirms it. This may happen when it strengthens the connection between the core and the robust result by showing that auxiliaries are not responsible for the result.

What Is the Epistemic Function of Highly Idealized Agent-Based Models of Scientific Inquiry?

“…As it is well-known in the literature on scientific modeling (see, for example, Lehtinen 2017; Soler et al 2012), a common way to address the above problems is by confirming the robustness of results obtained by a model, under two types of changes.…”

Evidence amalgamation in the sciences: an introduction

“…But rather than constraining themselves to the robustness of mathematical models, they also consider varying modeling assumptions, detection methods and experimental set-ups (such as experimental species)-see Culp (1995) for more on robustness and experimental setups. Woodward (2006) calls this derivational robustness, whose confirmational value has recently been argued for (Eronen 2015;Kuorikoski et al 2012;Lehtinen 2018). Again we find a notion of diversity playing a key role: the more divergent the group of experimental species for which a robust result is found, the less likely the observations are owed to idiosyncrasies of the individual species-in other words, the more likely it is that the observed phenomenon is also manifest in the species of interest.…”

Philosophy ofEconomics Rules: introduction to the symposium

“…Third, neither economists nor philosophers of economists have paid much attention to how models are misused (or abused) and to model failures (however see Hutchison, 1994;Mäki, 2012bMäki, , 2017Fernández, 2018). And finally, derivational robustness analysis has not yet received enough attention (however see Marchionni, 2010, 2012;Odenbaugh and Alexandrova, 2011;Lehtinen, 2016Lehtinen, , 2017.…”