Fiction and scientific representation

Roman Frigg

pp. 97-138

in: Roman Frigg, Matthew C. Hunter (eds), Beyond mimesis and convention, Berlin, Springer, 2010

Abstract

Most scientific models are not physical objects. But what sort of objects are they? What is truth in a model, and how do we learn about models? In this first part of this chapter I develop an answer to these questions based on the so-called pretense theory of literary fiction. In the second part I draw on the analogy between maps and models to develop an account of scientific representation and discuss in detail the Newtonian model of the planetary system to illustrate how the account works.