This Element will overview research using models to understand scientific practice. Models are useful for reasoning about groups and processes that are complicated and distributed across time and space, i.e., those that are difficult to study using empirical methods alone. Science fits this picture. For this reason, it is no surprise that researchers have turned to models over the last few decades to study various features of science. The different sections of the element are mostly organized around different modeling approaches. The models described in this element sometimes yield take-aways that are straightforward, and at other times more nuanced. The Element ultimately argues that while these models are epistemically useful, the best way to employ most of them to understand and improve science is in combination with empirical methods and other sorts of theorizing.

This Element uses models to study how scientific communities make knowledge and grapples with how best to improve science.

Book Information
ISBN 9781009359542
Author Cailin O'Connor
Format Paperback
Page Count 94
Imprint Cambridge University Press
Publisher Cambridge University Press
Weight(grams) 149g