Abstract Our aim in this paper is to evaluate Frank Jackson and Philip Pettit’s ‘program explanation’ framework as an account of the autonomy of the special sciences. We argue that this framework can only explain the autonomy of a limited range of special science explanations. The reason for this limitation is that the framework overlooks a distinction between two kinds of properties, which we refer to as ‘higher-level’ and ‘higher-order’ properties. The program explanation framework can account for the autonomy of special science explanations that appeal to higher-level properties but it does not account for the autonomy of most of those explanations that appeal to higher-order properties.

Item Type:	Refereed Article
Keywords:	Explanation . Reduction . Causation . Autonomy
Research Division:	Philosophy and Religious Studies
Research Group:	Philosophy
Research Field:	Philosophy not elsewhere classified
Objective Division:	Expanding Knowledge
Objective Group:	Expanding knowledge
Objective Field:	Expanding knowledge in philosophy and religious studies
UTAS Author:	Bliss, S (Dr Suzy Bliss)
ID Code:	94347
Year Published:	2010
Web of Science® Times Cited:	1
Deposited By:	School of Humanities
Deposited On:	2014-09-06
Last Modified:	2014-10-28
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