Related Experiment Video
Updated: Nov 1, 2025

Genome-wide Purification of Extrachromosomal Circular DNA from Eukaryotic Cells
Published on: April 4, 2016
Circularity, indispensability, and mathematical explanation in science
1Department of Philosophy, Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, PA, 19081, USA.
Abstract:
In this paper I consider the objection that the Enhanced Indispensability Argument (EIA) is circular and hence fails to support mathematical platonism. The objection is that the explanandum in any mathematical explanation of a physical phenomenon is itself identified using mathematical concepts. Hence the explanandum is only genuine if the truth of some mathematical theory is already presupposed. I argue that this objection deserves to be taken seriously, that it does sometimes undermine support for EIA, but that there is no reason to think that circularity is an unavoidable feature of mathematical explanation in science.
Related Concept Videos
Mathematical Induction
Circles
Problem Solving: Dimensional Analysis
Geometric Sequences
Relating Angular And Linear Quantities - I
When comparing the linear and rotational variables individually, the linear variable of position has physical units of meters, whereas the angular position variable has dimensionless units of radians, as it is the ratio of two lengths. The linear velocity...
Symmetry

