Forty years of 'the strategy': Levins on model building and idealization
Biology and Philosophy 21 (5):623-645 (2006)
| Abstract | This paper is an interpretation and defense of Richard Levins’ “The Strategy of Model Building in Population Biology,” which has been extremely influential among biologists since its publication 40 years ago. In this article, Levins confronted some of the deepest philosophical issues surrounding modeling and theory construction. By way of interpretation, I discuss each of Levins’ major philosophical themes: the problem of complexity, the brute-force approach, the existence and consequence of tradeoffs, and robustness analysis. I argue that Levins’ article is concerned, at its core, with justifying the use of multiple, idealized models in population biology. | |||||||||
| 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: 5,875 |
| External links |
  Try with proxy. |
| Through your library | Configure |
Similar books and articlesJames Justus (2005). Qualitative Scientific Modeling and Loop Analysis. Philosophy of Science 72 (5):1272-1286.
Collin Rice & Joshua Smart (2011). Interdisciplinary Modeling: A Case Study of Evolutionary Economics. Biology and Philosophy 26 (5):655-675.
Rasmus Grønfeldt Winther (2006). On the Dangers of Making Scientific Models Ontologically Independent: Taking Richard Levins' Warnings Seriously. Biology and Philosophy 21 (5):703-724.
Peter Taylor (2000). Socio-Ecological Webs and Sites of Sociality:Levins' Strategy of Model Building Revisited. Biology and Philosophy 15 (2).
Steven Hecht Orzack (2005). Discussion: What, If Anything, Is "The Strategy of Model Building in Population Biology?" A Comment on Levins (1966) and Odenbaugh (2003). [REVIEW] Philosophy of Science 72 (3):479-485.
Anya Plutynski (2006). Strategies of Model Building in Population Genetics. Philosophy of Science 73 (5):755-764.
John Matthewson (2011). Trade-Offs in Model-Building: A More Target-Oriented Approach. Studies in History and Philosophy of Science 42 (2):324-333.
Jay Odenbaugh (2003). Complex Systems, Trade-Offs, and Theoretical Population Biology: Richard Levin's "Strategy of Model Building in Population Biology" Revisited. Philosophy of Science 70 (5):1496-1507.
Jay Odenbaugh (2003). Complex Systems, Trade‐Offs, and Theoretical Population Biology: Richard Levin's “Strategy of Model Building in Population Biology” Revisited. Philosophy of Science 70 (5):1496-1507.
Jay Odenbaugh (2006). The Strategy of “the Strategy of Model Building in Population Biology”. Biology and Philosophy 21 (5):607-621.
Analytics
Monthly downloads |
Added to index2009-01-28Total downloads32 ( #38,656 of 556,908 )Recent downloads (6 months)1 ( #64,931 of 556,908 )How can I increase my downloads? |
My notes
Discussion
