Scientific Representation and the Application of Mathematics

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Otávio Bueno ◽  
Steven French
Keyword(s):  
Scientific Models ◽  
Scientific Representation ◽  
Partial Structures

In this chapter, we show how the partial structures framework can be used to give an account of how scientific models represent systems, and in a way that pays due regard to the relations between the relevant mathematics and such models. In particular, both the open-ended nature of these developments and the transfer of relations between one structure and another can be accommodated within the partial structures account. Finally, the expansion of the framework to include partial homomorphisms holding between structures also allows us to accommodate the fact that typically not all of the mathematics is used in a particular application, leaving surplus structure that can be subsequently exploited.

Progress in Economics: Lessons from the Spectrum Auctions

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Alexandrova ◽  
Robert Northcott
Keyword(s):  
The United States ◽  
Federal Communications Commission ◽  
Scientific Models ◽  
Spectrum Auctions ◽  
Spectrum Auction ◽  
Economic Progress ◽  
Partial Structures ◽  
Open Formula

This article begins by surveying existing work on scientific models, with an eye to the specific case of economics. It reviews four accounts in particular—the satisfaction-of-assumptions account, the capacities account, the credible-worlds account, and the partial-structures account. It tells the detailed story of the 1994 Federal Communications Commission (FCC) spectrum auction in the United States, highlighting the crucial role of experiment as well as theory. In the light of this case study, this article presents its own open-formula account of economic models. It then turns to the issue of economic progress. Finally, it concludes that empirical progress in economic theory might not be discussed here, or at least that the success of the spectrum auction provides no warrant for doing so. Rather, progress is better seen as more akin to the worthy but piecemeal variety typical of engineering.

Of Rabbits and Men

2020 ◽  
pp. 187-206
Author(s):  
Roman Frigg ◽  
Fiora Salis
Keyword(s):  
Scientific Models ◽  
Literary Fiction ◽  
Scientific Representation

According to the fiction view of models, scientific models are akin to places and characters in literary fiction. The chapter introduces this view and develops a specific version of the view based on the pretense account of fiction. It then turns to the question of how models represent their targets and formulates an account of representation based on the notions of denotation, exemplification, keying up, and imputation. The notion of denotation, it is argued, is usually borrowed from language and so an account of scientific representation can pursue a reductive strategy as regards denotation. Finally, it is pointed out that the fiction view of models in no way implies that models promulgate falsities and that the fiction therefore does not undermine the authority of science.

Theories as Representations

2020 ◽  
pp. 51-96
Author(s):  
Steven French
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
Scientific Representation ◽  
Semantic Approach ◽  
Partial Structures ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Inconsistent Theories ◽  
Considerable Discussion

The nature of scientific representation has been the subject of considerable discussion recently with frequent comparisons made between theories and depictive artworks. Here it is argued that the Semantic Approach can be understood as a useful means of capturing this representational relationship, in both the scientific and artistic domains. In particular, by deploying the device of partial structures it can capture the manner in which apparently inconsistent theories and pictures can represent, as well as that of certain abstract artworks. Nevertheless, care must be taken in drawing on examples from one domain to support or undermine arguments made about the nature of representation in the other. The comparisons involved highlight crucial differences between theories and artworks that will be drawn upon in subsequent chapters.

An Overview of Valuable Scientific Models for Diabetes Mellitus

2013 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 286-293 ◽  
Author(s):  
Muhammad Akash ◽  
Kanwal Rehman ◽  
Shuqing Chen
Keyword(s):  
Diabetes Mellitus ◽  
Scientific Models

Ask the Experts

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Sy Uy
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Performing Arts ◽  
Local Community ◽  
Rockefeller Foundation ◽  
Scientific Models ◽  
National Endowment ◽  
Leonard Bernstein ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
Western Art ◽  
Personal Connections

From the end of World War II through the U.S. Bicentennial, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Rockefeller Foundation, and the Ford Foundation granted close to $300 million (approximately $2.3 billion in 2017 dollars) in the field of music alone. In deciding what to fund, these three grantmaking institutions decided to “ask the experts,” adopting seemingly objective, scientific models of peer review and specialist evaluation. They recruited music composers at elite institutions, professors from prestigious universities, and leaders of performing arts organizations. Among the most influential expert-consultants were Leonard Bernstein, Aaron Copland, Lukas Foss, and Milton Babbitt. The significance was twofold: not only were male, Western art composers put in charge of directing large and unprecedented channels of public and private funds, but also, in doing so, they determined and defined what was meant by artistic excellence. They decided the fate of their peers and shaped the direction of music making in this country. By asking the experts, the grantmaking institutions produced a concentrated and interconnected field of artists and musicians. Officers and directors utilized ostensibly objective financial tools like matching grants and endowments in an attempt to diversify and stabilize applicants’ sources of funding, as well as the number of applicants they funded. Such economics-based strategies, however, relied more on personal connections among the wealthy and elite, rather than local community citizens. Ultimately, this history demonstrates how “expertise” served as an exclusionary form of cultural and social capital that prevented racial minorities and nondominant groups from fully participating.

Between History and Nature

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anik Waldow
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
History Of Science ◽  
Philosophy Of History ◽  
Literary Translation ◽  
Scientific Models ◽  
Human Sciences ◽  
Hermeneutic Philosophy ◽  
History Of ◽  
Point Of Departure ◽  
The Way

From within the philosophy of history and history of science alike, attention has been paid to Herder’s naturalist commitment and especially to the way in which his interest in medicine, anatomy, and biology facilitates philosophically significant notions of force, organism, and life. As such, Herder’s contribution is taken to be part of a wider eighteenth-century effort to move beyond Newtonian mechanism and the scientific models to which it gives rise. In this scholarship, Herder’s hermeneutic philosophy—as it grows out of his engagement with poetry, drama, and both literary translation and literary documentation projects—has received less attention. Taking as its point of departure Herder’s early work, this chapter proposes that, in his work on literature, Herder formulates an anthropologically sensitive approach to the human sciences that has still not received the attention it deserves.

scholarly journals Are Scientific Models of Life Testable? A Lesson from Simpson’s Paradox

Sci ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 73
Author(s):  
Prasanta S. Bandyopadhyay ◽  
Nolan Grunska ◽  
Don Dcruz ◽  
Mark C. Greenwood
Keyword(s):  
Origin Of Life ◽  
Rna World ◽  
Scientific Models ◽  
Scientific Model ◽  
Simpson’S Paradox ◽  
World Theory ◽  
Life Issues ◽  
The Origin Of Life ◽  
Logical Sense ◽  
Simpson's Paradox

We address the need for a model by considering two competing theories regarding the origin of life: (i) the Metabolism First theory and (ii) the RNA World theory. We discuss two inter-related points. (I) Models are valuable tools in understanding both the processes and intricacies of the origin of life issues. (II) Insights from models also help us to evaluate the core objection to origin of life theories called “the inefficiency objection” commonly raised by proponents of both the Metabolism First theory and the RNA World theory against each other. We use Simpson’s paradox as a tool for challenging this objection. We will use models in various senses ranging from taking them as representations of reality to treating them as theories/accounts that provide heuristics for probing reality. In this paper, we will frequently use models and theories interchangeably. Additionally, we investigate Conway’s Game of Life and contrast it with our Simpson’s Paradox (SP)-based approach to emergence of life issues. Finally, we discuss some of the consequences of our view. A scientific model is testable in three senses: (i) a logical sense, (ii) a nomological sense, and (iii) a current technological sense. The SP-based model is testable in the logical sense. It is also testable nomologically. However, it is not currently feasible to test it.

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