Models and Inferences in Science [Paperback]

The book answers long-standing questions on scientific modeling andinference across multiple perspectives and disciplines, including logic,mathematics, physics and medicine. The different chapters cover a variety ofissues, such as the role models play in scientific practice; the way scienceshapes our concept of models; ways of modeling the pursuit of scientificknowledge; the relationship between our concept of models and our concept ofscience. The book also discusses models and scientific explanations; models inthe semantic view of theories; the applicability of mathematical models to thereal world and their effectiveness; the links between models and inferences;and models as a means for acquiring new knowledge. It analyzes differentexamples of models in physics, biology, mathematics and engineering. Writtenfor researchers and graduate students, it provides a cross-disciplinaryreference guide to the notion and the use of models and inferences in science.

Modelling and Inferring in Science.- On The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematics inthe Natural Sciences.- Fast and Frugal Heuristicsat Research Frontiers.- ScientificRealism, the Semantic View and Evolutionary Biology.- Models of the Skies.- Models of Scienceand Models in Science.- Mechanistic Models andModeling Disorders.- Chaos and Stochastic Models in Physics.- Ways of Advancing Knowledge. A Lesson from Knot Theoryand Topology.- Models, Idealisations, and Realist Commitments.- Modelling Non-EmpiricalConfirmation.- Mathematics as an Empirical Phenomenon, Subject toModeling.- Scientific Models Are Distributed and Never Abstract. ANaturalistic Perspective.- The Use of Models in Petroleum and Natural GasEngineering.