Part VII: Philosophy of Science
Chapter 21
Study questions for Can we Trust Scientific Models?
- Why do you think is there a mismatch between the way the term ‘theory’ is used in everyday language and the (much more positive) meaning it has in science?
- Is axiomatisation an important or legitimate goal in scientific theorising?
- Do all scientific theories need to contain statements of laws of nature?
- Could the laws of nature have been different?
- Can we think of scientific models as applications, or limiting cases, of scientific theories?
- What is more important in assessing scientific models: empirical fit or convergence between different models of the same phenomenon?
Multiple Choice Questions
Weblinks for Can we trust scientific models?
Frigg, R. (2012). ‘Models in Science’. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/pseudo-science/. [An introductory survey of the philosophical debate about scientific models, which points out various connections with other areas in philosophy.]
PhilSci Archive: Models and Idealization. University of Pittsburgh, http://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/view/subjects/models-and-idealization.html. [Lists numerous freely downloadable papers on the philosophy of scientific models, thereby conveying a good sense of the diversity of scientific models and philosophical approaches.]
Introductory further reading for Can we trust scientific models?
Hesse, M. (1966). Models and Analogies in Science. Notre Dame University Press. [This is a widely cited and accessible introduction to the role of models in physics. Although the philosophical debate has since moved on, the book still rewards the reader with insight and much food for thought.]
Klee, R. (1996). Introduction to the Philosophy of Science: Cutting Nature at Its Seams. Oxford University Press. [This is an introductory textbook which devotes significant space to the discussion of scientific theories; unlike most textbooks in the philosophy of science, it focuses on examples from outside physics, in particular biology.]
Advanced further reading for Can we trust scientific models?
Bailer-Jones, D. (2013). Scientific Models in Philosophy of Science. University of Pittsburgh Press. [A comprehensive discussion of how models have been used and interpreted in both historical and contemporary contexts.]
Cartwright, N. (1983). How the Laws of Physics Lie. Oxford University Press. [Argues that the allegedly ‘deepest’ fundamental laws of modern physics do not, in fact, describe the very real regularities that exist in nature.]
Edwards, P. N. (2010). A Vast Machine: Computer Models, Climate Data, and the Politics of Global Warming. MIT Press. [A thorough account of the science behind climate models, written by a historian of science and technology.]
Gelfert, A. (2016). How to Do Science with Models: A Philosophical Primer. Springer. [A brief and opinionated survey of the philosophical debate about scientific models, which emphasises the multiple functions of scientific models as mediators between theory and data, contributors to scientific inquiry, and enablers of scientific knowledge.]
Lange, M.(2007). Natural Laws in Scientific Practice. Oxford University Press. [A thorough investigation of the character and place of natural laws in the sciences.]
Morgan, M. S. and Morrison, M. (1999). Models as Mediators: Perspectives on Natural and Social Science. Cambridge University Press. [An influential collection of case studies which significantly broadened the philosophical understanding of scientific models.]
Nagel, E. (1979). The Structure of Science: Problems in the Logic of Scientific Explanation. Hackett. [First published in 1961, this magisterial work conveys a flavour of mid-twentieth-century philosophy of science, with its unabashedly ahistorical, prescriptive outlook.]