The new fiction view of models

Salis, Fiora (2019) The new fiction view of models. British Journal for the Philosophy of Science. ISSN 0007-0882

Text (axz015) - Accepted Version Download (1MB)

Abstract

How do models represent reality? There are two conditions that scientific models must satisfy to be representations of real systems, the aboutness condition and the epistemic condition. In this article, I critically assess the two main fictionalist theories of models as representations, the indirect fiction view and the direct fiction view, with respect to these conditions. And I develop a novel proposal, what I call ‘the new fiction view of models’. On this view, models are akin to fictional stories; they represent real-world phenomena if they stand in a denotation relation with reality; and they enable knowledge of reality via the generation of theoretical hypotheses, model–world comparisons and direct attributions.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	© 2019 The Author
Divisions:	Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method CPNSS
Subjects:	Q Science > Q Science (General) B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > B Philosophy (General)
Date Deposited:	13 May 2019 13:51
Last Modified:	15 Nov 2024 07:21
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/100776

Actions (login required)

View Item