Rice, Collin (2022) Scientific Representation and Understanding: A Communal and Dynamical View. Scientific Understanding and Representation: Modeling in the Physical Sciences..
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Abstract
This chapter argues that both scientific representations and the understanding they produce are communal and dynamic. Specifically, it is argued that what a scientific theory or model represents can only be determined by looking at how the representation is used by communities of scientists over time. This contrasts with views that have appealed only to the current representational goals of individual model builders/users. It is also argued that scientific understanding is produced by communities of scientists using conflicting models, interests, and values over long periods of time. Consequently, accounts of scientific understanding need to move beyond the cognitive features of individual agents using individual models acting in isolation. As a result, accounts of scientific progress ought to show how diverse communities, using conflicting representations, can produce bodies of understanding across long spans of time.
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| Item Type: | Published Article or Volume | ||||||
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| Keywords: | Representation; Understanding; Modeling | ||||||
| Subjects: | General Issues > Models and Idealization General Issues > Social Epistemology of Science |
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| Depositing User: | Collin Rice | ||||||
| Date Deposited: | 22 Aug 2025 14:32 | ||||||
| Last Modified: | 22 Aug 2025 14:32 | ||||||
| Item ID: | 26316 | ||||||
| Journal or Publication Title: | Scientific Understanding and Representation: Modeling in the Physical Sciences. | ||||||
| Publisher: | Routledge | ||||||
| Official URL: | https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.432... | ||||||
| Subjects: | General Issues > Models and Idealization General Issues > Social Epistemology of Science |
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| Date: | 2022 | ||||||
| URI: | https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/26316 |
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