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The Craft of Scientific Research - Chapter 4. What is a scientific model? An evolutionary perspective

In Chapter 3, we discussed in detail the process through which research is conducted in both basic and applied sciences, and we concluded that, in all cases, conducting research involves idealisation. The concept of idealisation is linked to and connected to the model concept. Thus, the next step in our journey, marked by big questions,  is: What is a scientific model?

The chapter is based on a seminar I have offered to PhD students for many years, which is in turn the pedagogical version of this paper: Viceconti, M. (2011). A tentative taxonomy for predictive models in relation to their falsifiability. Philos Transact A Math Phys Eng Sci 369(1954), 4149-61. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2011.0227. 

We attempt to define what a model is by examining examples, conducting logical analysis, and revisiting the philosophical debate on the topic, yet we fail all the time.  Then, we turn the problem on its head, and instead of assuming that models are a product of science, we consider whether science is, in fact, the product of modelling.

We return to Chapter 1, where we advocated that knowing and predicting based on this knowledge is a physiological need for humans.  In our brains, we constantly predict things based on what we believe to be true about the physical world around us. In this sense, a model is a container of our beliefs.

Next, we recognise that in human cognition, models serve descriptive, predictive, and integrative purposes, as we struggle to understand a finite mind with an infinitely complex world.  This brings us to a second tentative definition: A model is a finalised cognitive construct of finite complexity that idealises an infinitely complex portion of reality through idealisations of the relations between portions of reality.

So far, nothing we said relates to science; but if a model is a finalised cognitive construct, a scientific model must aim at the finalities of science, and of the scientific method, in particular. And this brings us to the final definition:

Models are finalised cognitive constructs of finite complexity that idealise an infinitely complex portion of reality through idealisations that contribute to the achievement of knowledge on that portion of reality that is reliable, verifiable, objective, and shareable

Enjoy the reading!


Summary of Chapter 4 of “The Craft of Scientific Research”, by Marco Viceconti, self-published and Green Open Access book on the Zenodo repository: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18069190. 


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