SCIMOD

Project "SCIMOD" data sheet

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 Partnership

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 Project objective

In this project we will develop a systematic account of how scientific models are used to understand the natural world. It’s generally accepted, by both practicing scientists and philosophers of science, that scientific models are the primary (although perhaps not the sole) units of scientific investigation. But the model-world interface has yet to be fully understood. Recent work on scientific representation has urged us to think about models not as ‘intended copies’ of their target systems; but rather as exploiting much more conventional associations between features of models and features to be exported to their targets. We will build on this basic insight and explore its implications in a series of five subprojects. First we will develop an account of scientific explanation which is designed to apply to model-based science and which is sensitive to the basic insight mentioned previously. Second we will develop an account of structure of scientific theories that balances formal considerations with the actual practice of using theoretical models to draw inferences about their targets. Third we will explore the ontological status of models across different scientific fields. Fourth we will apply/illustrate the insights from the above projects to/with a series of detailed case studies focusing on models from fundamental physics and biology. Finally we will explore the connections between scientific representation and representation in other domains (language, mind, and art).