Inference and Representation: A Study in Modeling Science

"Mauricio Suárez develops a conception of representation that delivers a compelling account of modeling practice. He begins by discussing the history and methodology of model building, helpfully charting the emergence of what he calls the modeling attitude, a nineteenth century and fin de siècle development. Throughout the book, prominent cases of models, both historical and contemporary, are used as benchmarks for the accounts of representation considered throughout the book. After arguing against reductive naturalist theories of scientific representation, Suárez sets out his own account: a case for pluralism regarding the means of representation and minimalism regarding its constituents. He shows that scientists employ a plurality of different modeling relations in their representational practice - which also help them to assess the accuracy of their representations - while demonstrating that there is nothing metaphysically deep about the constituent relation that encompasses all these diverse means. The book also probes the broad implications of Suárez's inferential conception outside scientific modeling itself, covering analogies with debates about artistic representation over the past several decades, as well as the consequences for epistemology of adopting an inferential conception of representation. His inferential conception is neutral between realism and instrumentalism, and he illustrates this by looking at, and briefly taking issue with, the epistemology of some of the most widely discussed philosophers in the literature"--