Intentional Models as Essential Scientific Tools

International Studies in the Philosophy of Science 27 (2):199-217 (2013)
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Abstract

In this article, I argue that the use of scientific models that attribute intentional content to complex systems bears a striking similarity to the way in which statistical descriptions are used. To demonstrate this, I compare and contrast an intentional model with a statistical model, and argue that key similarities between the two give us compelling reasons to consider both as a type of phenomenological model. I then demonstrate how intentional descriptions play an important role in scientific methodology as a type of phenomenal model, and argue that this makes them as essential as any other model of this type

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Eric Hochstein
University of Victoria

References found in this work

The Language of Thought.Jerry A. Fodor - 1975 - Harvard University Press.
Models in Science (2nd edition).Roman Frigg & Stephan Hartmann - 2021 - The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
Knowledge and the Flow of Information.Fred Dretske - 1981 - Stanford, CA: MIT Press.

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