Scaling procedures in climate science: Using temporal scaling to identify a paleoclimate analogue

What is Philosophy of the Geosciences?

“… See Bokulich and Oreskes (2017) for a review of models in the geosciences.15 SeeJeffares (2008), though, for some examples of standard experimentation used to test "midrange theories" in the historical sciences.16 We take climate science to be a geoscience, according to the characterization of the geosciences provided in section 2.17 Climate scientists also use other sources of evidence to inform their climate projections, such as information from paleoclimatology(Page, 2021;Watkins, 2023aWatkins, , 2023bWatkins, , 2023cWilson, 2023). More philosophical work needs to be done on these other methods as well as on climate simulations.18 These debates relate to larger philosophical debates concerning the relative importance of accuracy compared to more pragmatic considerations, and the general role of idealizations or falsehoods in model-based science (e.g.,Bokulich, 2009;Elgin, 2004;Potochnik, 2017;Rice, 2021;Wimsatt, 1987).19 This debate harkens back to the different views espoused byLevins (1966) andOrzack and Sober (1993).20 As Leticia Castillo Brache pointed out to us, Fricker's notion is of course not the only available lens for assessing epistemic process asymmetries.…”

“…17 17 Climate scientists also use other sources of evidence to inform their climate projections, such as information from paleoclimatology (Page, 2021; Watkins, 2023a, 2023b, 2023c; Wilson, 2023). More philosophical work needs to be done on these other methods as well as on climate simulations. …”