Conference Overview

Even a cursory look at contemporary research papers in the physical, biological, and social sciences reveals the ubiquity of talk about models and reliance on them for explanation and prediction. Reference to models is far more frequent than reference to laws or theories. It has been fostered of late by the advent of inexpensive, powerful computers that can be used for computational modeling.

This workshop, hosted by the Science Studies Program at UCSD, will examine models and their role in explanation and prediction in four major scientific domains in which modeling is especially important:

• environment sciences
• climate sciences
• biological sciences
• neural and cognitive science

Among the science studies issues concerning modeling that we hope to address in the workshop are the following:

1. the relation of models to theories
2. the recognition and evaluation of the assumptions of models
3. the challenge of understanding and revising models involving complex dynamics that defy intuitive understanding
4. the use of models to explore phenomena on which experiments are either impossible or morally unacceptable
5. the challenges of modeling with incomplete or incorrect data
6. how social, political and cultural factors affect judgments of the epistemic power of models
7. the use of models in shaping public policy and (8) the challenge and usefulness (or not) of modeling the social dynamics of science itself

This website maintained by William Bechtel
Updated April 2006