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Comparative Process Tracing and Climate Change Fingerprints

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2022

Wendy S. Parker
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Abstract

Climate change fingerprint studies investigate the causes of recent climate change. I argue that these studies have much in common with Steel's streamlined comparative process tracing, illustrating a mechanisms-based approach to extrapolation in which the mechanisms of interest are simulated rather than physically instantiated. I then explain why robustness and variety-of-evidence considerations turn out to be important for understanding the evidential value of climate change fingerprint studies.

Type
Research Article
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 77 , Issue 5 , December 2010 , pp. 1083 - 1095
Copyright
Copyright © The Philosophy of Science Association

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Footnotes

‡

Thanks to Reto Knutti, Dan Steel, and Lenny Smith for helpful suggestions and discussion.

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