Optimisation and mathematical explanation

doing the Lévy walk

Sam Baron

pp. 459-479

in: Synthese 191 (3), 2014.

Abstrakt

The indispensability argument seeks to establish the existence of mathematical objects. The success of the indispensability argument turns on finding cases of genuine extra-mathematical explanation (the explanation of physical facts by mathematical facts). In this paper, I identify a new case of extra-mathematical explanation, involving the search patterns of fully-aquatic marine predators. I go on to use this case to predict the prevalence of extra-mathematical explanation in science.