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Model Organisms as Scientific Representations

Sartori, Lorenzo (2023) Model Organisms as Scientific Representations. [Preprint]

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Abstract

In this paper, I argue that model organisms (MOs) function as representations of other organisms, in the same way in which scientific models function as representations of their targets. This offers a response to the question of how we justify inferences from MOs to other biological systems. Building on Ankeny and Leonelli's (2020) account of MOs and drawing on the resources of the DEKI account of scientific representation (Frigg and Nguyen 2020), I argue that MO-based inferences are justified iff they exemplify properties that are translated into the ones imputed to the target system by an appropriate mapping function. Then, I defend this account against the charges of Levy and Currie (2015) and Weber (2004), who have proposed non-representational accounts of MOs.


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Item Type: Preprint
Creators:
CreatorsEmailORCID
Sartori, LorenzoL.Sartori1@lse.ac.uk0000-0002-8457-7100
Keywords: model organism, scientific representation, justification, DEKI, scientific models, philosophy of biology, specimen
Subjects: Specific Sciences > Biology
Specific Sciences > Biology > Molecular Biology/Genetics
General Issues > Confirmation/Induction
General Issues > Experimentation
Specific Sciences > Medicine
General Issues > Models and Idealization
Depositing User: Dr. Lorenzo Sartori
Date Deposited: 16 Oct 2023 17:27
Last Modified: 16 Oct 2023 17:27
Item ID: 22664
Subjects: Specific Sciences > Biology
Specific Sciences > Biology > Molecular Biology/Genetics
General Issues > Confirmation/Induction
General Issues > Experimentation
Specific Sciences > Medicine
General Issues > Models and Idealization
Date: 2023
URI: https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/22664

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