Interdisciplinary modeling: a case study of evolutionary economics
Biology and Philosophy 26 (5):655-675 (2011)
| Abstract | Biologists and economists use models to study complex systems. This similarity between these disciplines has led to an interesting development: the borrowing of various components of model-based theorizing between the two domains. A major recent example of this strategy is economists’ utilization of the resources of evolutionary biology in order to construct models of economic systems. This general strategy has come to be called evolutionary economics and has been a source of much debate among economists. Although philosophers have developed literatures on the nature of models and modeling, the unique issues surrounding this kind of interdisciplinary model building have yet to be independently investigated. In this paper, we utilize evolutionary economics as a case study in the investigation of more general issues concerning interdisciplinary modeling. We begin by critiquing the distinctions currently used within the evolutionary economics literature and propose an alternative carving of the conceptual terrain. We then argue that the three types of evolutionary economics we distinguish capture distinctions that will be important whenever resources of model-based theorizing are borrowed across distinct scientific domains. Our analysis of these model-building strategies identifies several of the unique methodological and philosophical issues that confront interdisciplinary modeling | |||||||||
| 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: 5,672 |
| External links |
 |
| Through your library | Configure |
Similar books and articlesAnya Plutynski (2006). Strategies of Model Building in Population Genetics. Philosophy of Science 73 (5):755-764.
A. W. Schulz (2013). Beyond the Hype: The Value of Evolutionary Theorizing in Economics. Philosophy of the Social Sciences 43 (1):46-72.
Wolfram Latsch (2003). Androids and Agents: Do We Need a Non‐Computational Economics? Journal of Economic Methodology 10 (3):375-396.
C. Hedoin (forthcoming). Models in Economics Are Not (Always) Nomological Machines: A Pragmatic Approach to Economists' Modeling Practices. Philosophy of the Social Sciences.
Kurt Dopfer & Jason Potts (2004). Evolutionary Realism: A New Ontology for Economics. Journal of Economic Methodology 11 (2):195-212.
Matthias Klaes (2004). Evolutionary Economics: In Defence of 'Vagueness'. Journal of Economic Methodology 11 (3):359-376.
Jack Vromen (2004). Conjectural Revisionary Economic Ontology: Outline of an Ambitious Research Agenda for Evolutionary Economics. Journal of Economic Methodology 11 (2):213-247.
Anya Plutynski (2006). Strategies of Model Building in Population Genetics. Philosophy of Science 73 (5):755-764.
James Maclaurin & Tim Cochrane (2012). Progress in Evolutionary Economics. Journal of Bioeconomics 14 (2):101-14.
Franck Varenne (2009). Models and Simulations in the Historical Emergence of the Science of Complexity. In Ma Aziz-Alaoui & C. Bertelle (eds.), From System Complexity to Emergent Properties. Springer.
Dennis C. Mueller (2004). Models of Man: Neoclassical, Behavioural, and Evolutionary. Politics, Philosophy and Economics 3 (1):59-76.
Harold Kincaid & Don Ross (eds.) (2009). The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Economics. Oxford University Press.
Müge Ozman (2005). Interactions in Economic Models: Statistical Mechanics and Networks. Mind and Society 4 (2):223-238.
Masudul Alam Choudhury (2011). A Critique of Economic Theory and Modeling: A Meta-Epistemological General-System Model of Islamic Economics. Social Epistemology 25 (4):423 - 446.
James R. Griesemer (1990). Modeling in the Museum: On the Role of Remnant Models in the Work of Joseph Grinnell. Biology and Philosophy 5 (1):3-36.
Analytics
Monthly downloads |
Added to index2011-06-10Total downloads16 ( #74,649 of 549,051 )Recent downloads (6 months)1 ( #63,185 of 549,051 )How can I increase my downloads? |
My notes
Discussion
