Models and fiction
Synthese 172 (2):251-268 (2010)
Abstract
Most scientific models are not physical objects, and this raises important questions. What sort of entity are models, what is truth in a model, and how do we learn about models? In this paper I argue that models share important aspects in common with literary fiction, and that therefore theories of fiction can be brought to bear on these questions. In particular, I argue that the pretence theory as developed by Walton has the resources to answer these questions. I introduce this account, outline the answers that it offers, and develop a general picture of scientific modelling based on itAuthor's Profile
Reprint years
2007, 2009
DOI
10.1007/s11229-009-9505-0
My notes
Similar books and articles
The philosophy of simulation: hot new issues or same old stew?Roman Frigg & Julian Reiss - 2009 - Synthese 169 (3):593-613.
Molecular reduction: reality or fiction?Janez Bregant, Andraž Stožer & Marko Cerkvenik - 2010 - Synthese 172 (3):437-450.
The ontology of theoretical modelling: models as make-believe.Adam Toon - 2010 - Synthese 172 (2):301-315.
Rigorous results, cross-model justification, and the transfer of empirical warrant: the case of many-body models in physics.Axel Gelfert - 2009 - Synthese 169 (3):497-519.
Technology and science epistemology, rationality and the empirical turn.Jan Kyrre Berg Olsen & Frederik Voetmann Christiansen - 2009 - Synthese 168 (3):313-318.
The fine-grained metaphysics of artifactual and biological functional kinds.Massimiliano Carrara & Pieter Vermaas - 2009 - Synthese 169 (1):125-143.
Does matter really matter? Computer simulations, experiments, and materiality.Wendy S. Parker - 2009 - Synthese 169 (3):483-496.
The undecidability of propositional adaptive logic.Leon Horsten & Philip Welch - 2009 - Synthese 169 (1):217-218.
Analytics
Added to PP
2009-01-28
Downloads
460 (#23,502)
6 months
6 (#133,716)
2009-01-28
Downloads
460 (#23,502)
6 months
6 (#133,716)
Historical graph of downloads
Author's Profile
Citations of this work
Scientific understanding and felicitous legitimate falsehoods.Insa Lawler - 2021 - Synthese 198 (7):6859-6887.
Models and representation.Roman Frigg & James Nguyen - 2017 - In Lorenzo Magnani & Tommaso Bertolotti (eds.), Springer Handbook of Model-Based Science. pp. 49-102.
Models and fictions in science.Peter Godfrey-Smith - 2009 - Philosophical Studies 143 (1):101 - 116.
Models Don’t Decompose That Way: A Holistic View of Idealized Models.Collin Rice - 2019 - British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 70 (1):179-208.
References found in this work
The Dappled World: A Study of the Boundaries of Science.Nancy Cartwright - 1999 - Cambridge University Press.
Mimesis as Make-Believe: On the Foundations of the Representational Arts.Kendall L. Walton - 1990 - Harvard University Press.