Semblance or similarity? Reflections on Simulation and Similarity: Michael Weisberg: Simulation and similarity: using models to understand the world. Oxford University Press, 2013. 224pp. ISBN 9780199933662, $65.00

Biology and Philosophy 30 (2):277-291 (2015)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

In this essay, I critically evaluate components of Michael Weisberg’s approach to models and modeling in his book Simulation and Similarity. First, I criticize his account of the ontology of models and mathematics. Second, I respond to his objections to fictionalism regarding models arguing that they fail. Third, I sketch a deflationary approach to models that retains many elements of his account but avoids the inflationary commitments

Categories

Keywords

Reprint years

DOI

10.1007/s10539-014-9446-y

Other Versions

No versions found

Links

PhilArchive

    This entry is not archived by us. If you are the author and have permission from the publisher, we recommend that you archive it. Many publishers automatically grant permission to authors to archive pre-prints. By uploading a copy of your work, you will enable us to better index it, making it easier to find.

    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 104,766

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

My notes

Similar books and articles

Models and experiments? An exploration: Review of Michael Weisberg’s Simulation and Similarity: Using Models to Understand the World, Oxford, 2013.William C. Wimsatt - 2015 - Biology and Philosophy 30 (2):293-298.
Biology and Philosophy symposium on Simulation and Similarity: Using Models to Understand the World: Response to critics.Michael Weisberg - 2015 - Biology and Philosophy 30 (2):299-310.
How to model the world?: Michael Weisberg: Simulation and similarity. Using models to understand the world. New York: Oxford University Press, 2013, 224pp, $58.25 HB.V. S. Pronskikh - 2014 - Metascience 23 (3):597-601.
Holistic modeling: an objection to Weisberg’s weighted feature-matching account.Wei Fang - 2017 - Synthese 194 (5):1743–1764.
Michael Weisberg * simulation and similarity: Using models to understand the world. [REVIEW]Eran Tal - 2015 - British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 66 (2):469-473.
Models, models, models: a deflationary view.Jay Odenbaugh - 2018 - Synthese 198 (Suppl 21):1-16.
Getting Serious about Shared Features.Donal Khosrowi - 2020 - British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 71 (2):523-546.
Simulation and Similarity: Using Models to Understand the World.Michael Weisberg - 2013 - New York, US: Oxford University Press.
Black Holes, Black Scholes, and Prairie Voles: an Essay Review of Simulation and Similarity by Michael Weisberg. [REVIEW]Cailin O’Connor & James Owen Weatherall - 2016 - Philosophy of Science 83 (4):613-626.
Getting serious about similarity.Wendy S. Parker - 2015 - Biology and Philosophy 30 (2):267-276.

Analytics

Added to PP
2014-05-02

Downloads
91 (#246,068)

6 months
7 (#625,561)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author's Profile

Jay Odenbaugh
Lewis & Clark College

Citations of this work

The Nature of Model-World Comparisons.Fiora Salis - 2016 - The Monist 99 (3):243-259.
Capturing the scientific imagination.Fiora Salis & Roman Frigg - 2019 - In Arnon Levy & Peter Godfrey-Smith, The Scientific Imagination. New York, US: Oup Usa.
Models, models, models: a deflationary view.Jay Odenbaugh - 2018 - Synthese 198 (Suppl 21):1-16.

View all 6 citations / Add more citations

References found in this work

Science Without Numbers: A Defence of Nominalism.Hartry H. Field - 1980 - Princeton, NJ, USA: Princeton University Press.
The scientific image.C. Van Fraassen Bas - 1980 - New York: Oxford University Press.
True Enough.Catherine Z. Elgin - 2017 - Cambridge: MIT Press.

View all 43 references / Add more references