Semblance or similarity? Reflections on Simulation and Similarity: Michael Weisberg: Simulation and similarity: using models to understand the world. Oxford University Press, 2013. 224pp. ISBN 9780199933662, $65.00

Biology and Philosophy 30 (2):277-291 (2015)
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Abstract

In this essay, I critically evaluate components of Michael Weisberg’s approach to models and modeling in his book Simulation and Similarity. First, I criticize his account of the ontology of models and mathematics. Second, I respond to his objections to fictionalism regarding models arguing that they fail. Third, I sketch a deflationary approach to models that retains many elements of his account but avoids the inflationary commitments

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10.1007/s10539-014-9446-y

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Jay Odenbaugh
Lewis & Clark College

Citations of this work

The Nature of Model-World Comparisons.Fiora Salis - 2016 - The Monist 99 (3):243-259.
Models, models, models: a deflationary view.Jay Odenbaugh - 2018 - Synthese 198 (Suppl 21):1-16.

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References found in this work

True Enough.Catherine Z. Elgin - 2017 - Cambridge: MIT Press.
Science Without Numbers: A Defence of Nominalism.Hartry H. Field - 1980 - Princeton, NJ, USA: Princeton University Press.
The scientific image.C. Van Fraassen Bas - 1980 - New York: Oxford University Press.

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