Models as Mediators

Models as Mediators discusses the ways in which models function in modern science, particularly in the fields of physics and economics. Models play a variety of roles in the sciences: they are used in the development, exploration and application of theories and in measurement methods. They also provide instruments for using scientific concepts and principles to intervene in the world. The editors provide a framework which covers the construction and function of scientific models, and explore the ways in which they enable us to learn about both theories and the world. The contributors to the volume offer their own individual theoretical perspectives to cover a wide range of examples of modelling, from physics, economics and chemistry. These papers provide ideal case-study material for understanding both the concepts and typical elements of modelling, using analytical approaches from the philosophy and history of science.

ISBN 0521655714   Pages 420 ISBN13 9780521655712 (What's this?)   Volumes 1 Publisher Cambridge University Press   Weight (grammes) 610 Imprint Cambridge University Press   Published in Cambridge Format Paperback   Series editor Skinner, Quentin, Daston, Lorraine, Ross, Dorothy Publication date 21 Oct 1999   Series title Ideas in Context Non-book description xi, 401 p. :   Height (mm) 228 Library of Congress Q158.5 .M63 1999   Width (mm) 152 DEWEY 501.1   Spine width (mm) 24 DEWEY edition DC21   Academic level Professional / Scholarly

		List of contributors
		Preface
1		Introduction by Margaret Morrison and Mary S. Morgan		1
2		Models as mediating instruments by Margaret Morrison and Mary S. Morgan		10
3		Models as autonomous agents by Margaret Morrison		38
4		Built-in justification by Marcel Boumans		66
5		The Ising model, computer simulation, and universal physics by R. I. G. Hughes		97
6		Techniques of modelling and paper-tools in classical chemistry by Ursula Klein		146
7		The role of models in the application of scientific theories: epistemological implications by Mauricio Suarez		168
8		Knife-edge caricature modelling: the case of Marx's Reproduction Schema by Geert Reuten		196
9		Models and the limits of theory: quantum Hamiltonians and the BCS models of superconductivity by Nancy Cartwright		241
10		Past measurements and future prediction by Adrienne van den Bogaard		282
11		Models and stories in hadron physics by Stephan Hartmann		326
12		Learning from models by Mary S. Morgan		347
		Index		389

"This collection is a valuable addition to the growing literature on models... the reader will learn much from reading these essays." Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics "...describes how models in the sciences can act as automomous mediators between theory and the world, and uncovers the means by which models function as a source of knowledge." Journal of Economic Literature

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