Models, analogies, and theories
Philosophy of Science 31 (4):328-350 (1964)
| Abstract | Recent accounts of scientific method suggest that a model, or analogy, for an axiomatized theory is another theory, or postulate set, with an identical calculus. The present paper examines five central theses underlying this position. In the light of examples from physical science it seems necessary to distinguish between models and analogies and to recognize the need for important revisions in the position under study, especially in claims involving an emphasis on logical structure and similarity in form between theory and analogy. While formal considerations are often relevant in the employment of an analogy they are neither as extensive as proponents of this viewpoint suggest, nor are they in most cases sufficient for allowing analogies to fulfill the roles imputed to them. Of major importance, and what these authors generally fail to consider, are physical similarities between analogue and theoretical object. Such similarities, which are characteristic in varying degrees of most analogies actually employed, play an important role in affording a better understanding of concepts in the theory and also in the development of the theoretical assumptions | |||||||||
| Keywords | No keywords specified (fix it) | |||||||||
| Categories | ||||||||||
| Options |
|
|||||||||
Download options| PhilPapers Archive |
Upload a copy of this paper Check publisher's policy on self-archival Papers currently archived: 5,865 |
| External links |
 |
| Through your library | Configure |
Similar books and articlesClément Vidal (2010). Computational and Biological Analogies for Understanding Fine-Tuned Parameters in Physics. Foundations of Science 15 (4):375 - 393.
Mary S. Morgan (1997). The Technology of Analogical Models: Irving Fisher's Monetary Worlds. Philosophy of Science 64 (4):314.
Paul F. A. Bartha (2010). By Parallel Reasoning: The Construction and Evaluation of Analogical Arguments. Oxford University Press.
Cameron Shelley (1999). Multiple Analogies in Archaeology. Philosophy of Science 66 (4):579-605.
Dirk Schlimm (2008). Two Ways of Analogy: Extending the Study of Analogies to Mathematical Domains. Philosophy of Science 75 (2):178-200.
Lindley Darden (1982). Artificial Intelligence and Philosophy of Science: Reasoning by Analogy in Theory Construction. PSA: Proceedings of the Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association 1982:147 - 165.
Jeffrey Koperski, Models. Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
Peter Kroes (1989). Structural Analogies Between Physical Systems. British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 40 (2):145-154.
Analytics
Monthly downloads |
Added to index2009-01-28Total downloads58 ( #17,268 of 556,775 )Recent downloads (6 months)1 ( #64,847 of 556,775 )How can I increase my downloads? |
My notes
Discussion
