Taming the tyranny of scales: models and scale in the geosciences

Autor: Alisa Bokulich
Rok vydání: 2021
Předmět:
Zdroj: Synthese. 199:14167-14199
ISSN: 1573-0964
0039-7857
DOI: 10.1007/s11229-021-03416-w
Popis: While the predominant focus of the philosophical literature on scientific modeling has been on single-scale models, most systems in nature exhibit complex multiscale behavior, requiring new modeling methods. This challenge of modeling phenomena across a vast range of spatial and temporal scales has been called the tyranny of scales problem. Drawing on research in the geosciences, I synthesize and analyze a number of strategies for taming this tyranny in the context of conceptual, physical, and mathematical modeling. This includes several strategies that can be deployed in physical (table-top) modeling, even when strict dynamical scaling fails. In all cases, I argue that having an adequate conceptual model—given both the nature of the system and the particular purpose of the model—is essential. I draw a distinction between depiction and representation, and use this research in the geosciences to advance a number of debates in the philosophy of modeling.
Databáze: OpenAIRE
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