How to do science with models : a philosophical primer

Author(s)

    • Gelfert, Axel

Bibliographic Information

How to do science with models : a philosophical primer

Axel Gelfert

(Springer briefs in philosophy)

Springer, 2016

  • : pbk

Available at  / 2 libraries

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Note

Includes bibliographical references and index

Description and Table of Contents

Description

Taking scientific practice as its starting point, this book charts the complex territory of models used in science. It examines what scientific models are and what their function is. Reliance on models is pervasive in science, and scientists often need to construct models in order to explain or predict anything of interest at all. The diversity of kinds of models one finds in science - ranging from toy models and scale models to theoretical and mathematical models - has attracted attention not only from scientists, but also from philosophers, sociologists, and historians of science. This has given rise to a wide variety of case studies that look at the different uses to which models have been put in specific scientific contexts. By exploring current debates on the use and building of models via cutting-edge examples drawn from physics and biology, the book provides broad insight into the methodology of modelling in the natural sciences. It pairs specific arguments with introductory material relating to the ontology and the function of models, and provides some historical context to the debates as well as a sketch of general positions in the philosophy of scientific models in the process.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: What are Scientific Models? Chapter 2: Scientific Representation and the Uses of Scientific Models.- Chapter 3: Strategies of Model-Building: Examples from Scientific Practice.- Chapter 4: The Question of Trade-Offs.- Chapter 5: Scientific Models as Contributors to Inquiry.- Chapter 6: The Embodied Dimension of Models.- Chapter 7: Conclusion.

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Details

  • NCID
    BB23131111
  • ISBN
    • 9783319279527
  • LCCN
    2015958321
  • Country Code
    sz
  • Title Language Code
    eng
  • Text Language Code
    eng
  • Place of Publication
    Switzerland
  • Pages/Volumes
    x, 135 p.
  • Size
    24 cm
  • Classification
  • Subject Headings
  • Parent Bibliography ID
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