Model-Based Reasoning in Scientific Discovery

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-1

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2. Models, Mental models, and Representations

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 3-3

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   2. Model-Based Reasoning in Conceptual Change

      • Nancy J. Nersessian

      Pages 5-22

   3. Tracing the Development of Models in the Philosophy of Science

      • Daniela M. Bailer-Jones

      Pages 23-40

   4. Using Models to Represent Reality

      • Ronald N. Giere

      Pages 41-57

   5. Models and Diagrams within the Cognitive Field

      • Kenneth J. Knoespel

      Pages 59-73

   6. Theories,Models,and Representations

      • Mauricio Suárez

      Pages 75-83

   7. How Scientists Build Models In Vivo Science as a Window on the Scientific Mind

      • Kevin Dunbar

      Pages 85-99

3. Discovery Processes and Mechanisms

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 101-101

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   2. A Simulation of Model-Based Reasoning about Disparate Phenomena

      • David C. Gooding, Tom R. Addis

      Pages 103-123

   3. Scientific Discovery and Technological Innovation: Ulcers, Dinosaur Extinction, and the Programming Language Java

      • Paul Thagard, David Croft

      Pages 125-137

   4. A Hierarchy of Models and Electron Microscopy

      • Todd Harris

      Pages 139-148

   5. Expansion and Justification of Models: the Exemplary Case of Galileo Galilei

      • Vasilis Raisis

      Pages 149-164

   6. Simplifying Bayesian Inference: The General Case

      • Stefan Krauß, Laura Martignon, Ulrich Hoffrage

      Pages 165-179

   7. Complexity versus Complex Systems: A New Approach to Scientific Discovery

      • F. Tito Arecchi

      Pages 181-196

4. Creative Inferences and Abduction

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 197-197

      PDF

   2. Model-Based Reasoning in Creative Processes

      • Joke Meheus

      Pages 199-217

   3. Model-Based Creative Abduction

      • Lorenzo Magnani

      Pages 219-238

   4. Abduction and Geometrical Analysis. Notes on Charles S. Peirce and Edgar Allan Poe

      • Ilkka Niiniluoto

      Pages 239-254

   5. The Hierarchy of Models in Simulation

      • Eric Winsberg

      Pages 255-269

The volume is based on the papers that were presented at the Interna­ tional Conference Model-Based Reasoning in Scientific Discovery (MBR'98), held at the Collegio Ghislieri, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy, in December 1998. The papers explore how scientific thinking uses models and explanatory reasoning to produce creative changes in theories and concepts. The study of diagnostic, visual, spatial, analogical, and temporal rea­ soning has demonstrated that there are many ways of performing intelligent and creative reasoning that cannot be described with the help only of tradi­ tional notions of reasoning such as classical logic. Traditional accounts of scientific reasoning have restricted the notion of reasoning primarily to de­ ductive and inductive arguments. Understanding the contribution of model­ ing practices to discovery and conceptual change in science requires ex­ panding scientific reasoning to include complex forms of creative reasoning that are not always successful and can lead to incorrect solutions. The study of these heuristic ways of reasoning is situated at the crossroads of philoso­ phy, artificial intelligence, cognitive psychology, and logic; that is, at the heart of cognitive science. There are several key ingredients common to the various forms of model­ based reasoning to be considered in this book. The models are intended as in­ terpretations of target physical systems, processes, phenomena, or situations. The models are retrieved or constructed on the basis of potentially satisfying salient constraints of the target domain.

• Action
• Bayesian inference
• Cognitive science
• Constraint Satisfaction
• Philosophy of Science
• artificial intelligence
• complex system
• complexity
• logic
• model
• modeling
• programming
• programming language
• scientific discovery
• simulation

• University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy

  Lorenzo Magnani

• Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, USA

  Nancy J. Nersessian

• University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Canada

  Paul Thagard

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