Early philosophical accounts of explanation mistook the function of boundary conditions for that of contingent facts. I diagnose where this misunderstanding arose and establish that it persists. I disambiguate between uses of the term "boundary conditions" and argue that boundary conditions are explanatory via their roles as components of models. Using case studies from fluid mechanics and the physics of waves, I articulate four explanatory functions for boundary conditions in physics: specifying the scope of a model, enabling stable descriptions of phenomena in the model, generating descriptions of novel phenomena, and connecting models from differing theoretical backgrounds.

中文翻译：

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物理科学中边界条件的作用

早期的哲学解释将边界条件的功能误认为是偶然事实的功能。我诊断出这种误解是从哪里产生的，并确定它仍然存在。我消除了术语“边界条件”的使用歧义，并认为边界条件是通过它们作为模型组件的作用来解释的。使用流体力学和波物理学的案例研究，我阐明了物理学中边界条件的四个解释函数：指定模型的范围，实现模型中现象的稳定描述，生成新现象的描述，以及连接不同模型的模型。理论背景。