How models are used to represent reality

Citation: Giere, R. G. (2004) How models are used to represent reality. Philosophy of Science 71 (5):742-752 (2004) (RSS)
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Summary

Giere argued science can be viewed as a language and we should focus on the pragmatics aspect of scientific practices. He used models to illustrate how we give scientific explanation. The representation reflects the relationship between linguistic entities and the world. For scientific representation, theory is a medium to connect statements with the world. The process to give scientific explanation is to generate models based on principles and specific conditions, and then create hypothesis according to on the model.

Giere then discusses the components or process by which model is built. First, he defined the principle as a highly specific abstract object based on empirical generalization, which also refers to general templates for the construction of models. With the principle, we can build the model, and then apply this model to several similar cases. For Giere, the term “law” or “theory” is too broad and ambiguous. He thought that the term “principle” is more specific and used it to replace laws and theories.

Giere stated that models are often used to represent some aspect of the world for specific purpose by scientists. The usefulness of model is based on its two features, similarity and generalization. Model should have specific features which are similar to the features in real world, and should be based on generalizations of the world. However, law-like statement usually has restrictions and exceptions. Giere proposed that by viewing law statement as a part of a model, we can avoid this problem.

The purpose of using model is to give an understanding of something. We choose model according to the question we ask. For the same subject, it is possible to use different models due to different research questions. Giere argued that there is no true or false principle, but more or less useful for the constriction of good models. What we can test is the model which incorporates the principle rather than the principle itself. Therefore, model building is the way to give better scientific explanation.