Bokulich, Alisa (2021) Taming the Tyranny of Scales: Models and Scale in the Geosciences. [Preprint]
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Abstract
While the predominant focus of the philosophical literature on scientific modeling has been on single-scale models, most systems in nature exhibit complex multiscale behavior, requiring new modeling methods. This challenge of modeling phenomena across a vast range of spatial and temporal scales has been called the tyranny of scales problem. Drawing on research in the geosciences, I synthesize and analyze a number of strategies for taming this tyranny in the context of conceptual, physical, and mathematical modeling. This includes several strategies that can be deployed in physical (table-top) modeling, even when strict dynamical scaling fails. In all cases, I argue that having an adequate conceptual model—given both the nature of the system and the particular purpose of the model—is essential. I draw a distinction between depiction and representation, and use this research in the geosciences to advance a number of debates in the philosophy of modeling.
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| Item Type: | Preprint | ||||||
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| Additional Information: | Forthcoming in Synthese (special issue on Multiscale Modeling & Active Materials) | ||||||
| Keywords: | multiscale; modeling; simulation; conceptual model; physical model; mathematical model; scale; dynamical scaling; geosciences; geomorphology; geohydrology; representation; thresholds; adequacy for purpose; hierarchy; similitude; reductionism; emergence; universality; tyranny of scales | ||||||
| Subjects: | Specific Sciences > Earth Sciences General Issues > Models and Idealization General Issues > Reductionism/Holism |
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| Depositing User: | Alisa Bokulich | ||||||
| Date Deposited: | 06 Sep 2021 20:45 | ||||||
| Last Modified: | 06 Sep 2021 20:45 | ||||||
| Item ID: | 19536 | ||||||
| Subjects: | Specific Sciences > Earth Sciences General Issues > Models and Idealization General Issues > Reductionism/Holism |
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| Date: | 2021 | ||||||
| URI: | https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/19536 |
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