Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-c4f8m Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-23T17:43:16.895Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Model-Theoretic Approach in the Philosophy of Science

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 April 2022

Newton C. A. Da Costa  and
Steven French
Newton C. A. Da Costa
Affiliation:
Department of Philosophy, University of São Paulo
Steven French
Affiliation:
Department of Philosophy and Religion, Southeast Missouri State University
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

An introduction to the model-theoretic approach in the philosophy of science is given and it is argued that this program is further enhanced by the introduction of partial structures. It is then shown that this leads to a natural and intuitive account of both “iconic” and mathematical models and of the role of the former in science itself.

Type
Research Article
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 57 , Issue 2 , June 1990 , pp. 248 - 265
Copyright
Copyright © 1989 by the Philosophy of Science Association

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

†

The authors would like to acknowledge the help and support of the Institute for Advanced Study of the University of São Paulo, the Centre of Logic, Epistemology and History of Science of the University of Campinas and, in the case of Steven French, the Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development, during the preparation and writing of this paper. We would also like to thank the two anonymous referees for their helpful suggestions and criticisms concerning an earlier draft of this paper.

References

REFERENCES

Achinstein, P. (1968), Concepts of Science: A Philosophical Analysis. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press.Google Scholar
Almeder, R. (1987), “Blind Realism”, Erkenntnis 26: 57–101.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beth, E. (1948), Naturphilosophie. Gorinchen: Noorduyn.Google Scholar
Beth, E. (1949), “Towards an Up-to-Date Philosophy of the Natural Sciences”, Methodos 1: 178–185.Google Scholar
Beth, E. (1961), “Semantics of Physical Theories”, in H. Freudanthal (ed.), The Concept and the Role of the Model in Mathematics and Natural and Social Sciences. Dordrecht: D. Reidel, pp. 48–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bourbaki, N. (1957), Théorie des Ensembles. Paris: Hermann.Google Scholar
Beth, E. (1968), Theory of Sets. Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley.Google Scholar
Bradie, M. (1979), “Pragmatism and Internal Realism”, Analysis 39: 4–10.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
da Costa, N. C. A. (1977), Introdução aos Fundamentos da Matemática. São Paulo: HUCITEC, University of São Paulo.Google Scholar
da Costa, N. C. A. (1986), “Pragmatic Probability”, Erkenntnis 25: 141–162.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
da Costa, N. C. A. (1987a), “O Conceito de Estrutura em Ciência”, Boletim da Sociedade Paranaense de Matemática 8: 1–22.Google Scholar
da Costa, N. C. A. (1987b), “An Outline of a System of Inductive Logic”, Theoria 7: 3–13.Google Scholar
da Costa, N. C. A., and Chuaqui, R. (1988), “On Suppes' Set Theoretical Predicates”, Erkenntnis 29: 95–112.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
da Costa, N. C. A., and Chuaqui, R. (forthcoming), “The Logic of Pragmatic Truth”.Google Scholar
da Costa, N. C. A., and French, S. (1989), “Pragmatic Truth and the Logic of Induction”, British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 40: 333–356.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dalla Chiara, M. L., and Toraldo di Francia, A. (1973), “A Logical Analysis of Physical Theories”, Rivista di Nuovo Cimento 3: 1–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dorling, J. (1972), “Bayesianism and the Rationality of Scientific Inference”, British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 23: 181–190.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ellis, B. (1985), “What Science Aims to Do”, in P. M. Churchland and C. A. Hooker (eds.), Images of Science: Essays on Realism and Empiricism. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, pp. 48–74.Google Scholar
Elton, , (1964), Nuclear Sizes. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Fine, A. (1984), “And Not Anti-Realism Either”, Noûs 18: 51–65.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
French, S. (forthcoming a), “A Note on Constructive Empiricism and Pragmatic Truth”.Google Scholar
French, S. (forthcoming b), “Pragmatic Realism”.Google Scholar
Friedman, M. (1983), Foundations of Space-Time Theories: Relativistic Physics and Philosophy of Science. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Giere, R. N. (1985), “Constructive Realism”, in P. M. Churchland and C. A. Hooker, (eds.), Images of Science: Essays on Realism and Empiricism. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, pp. 75–98.Google Scholar
Hesse, M. (1963), Models and Analogies in Science. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Hilbert, D. (1976), “Mathematical Problems” (original 1900), in F. E. Bouwder (ed.), Mathematical Developments Arising from Hilbert's Problems: Proceedings of Symposia in Pure Mathematics 28. American Mathematical Society, pp. 1–34.Google Scholar
Hiskes, A. (1986), “Friedman on the Foundations of Space-Time Theories”, Erkenntnis 25: 111–126.Google Scholar
Malament, D. (1977), “Observationally Indistinguishable Space-Times”, in J. Earman, C. Glymour and J. Stachel (eds.), Foundations of Space-Time Theories. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, pp. 61–80.Google Scholar
McKinsey, J. C. C., Sugar, A. C., and Suppes, P. (1953), “Axiomatic Foundations of Classical Particle Mechanics”, Journal of Rational Mechanics and Analysis 2: 253–272.Google Scholar
Mikenberg, I., da Costa, N. C. A. and Chuaqui, R. (1986), “Pragmatic Truth and Approximation to Truth”, Journal of Symbolic Logic 51: 201–221.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nagel, E. (1961), The Structure of Science. Harcourt: New York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Olivé, L. (1985), “Realismo y antirrealismo en la concepción semántica de las teorías”, Crítica 17: 31–38; English summary: 39–40.Google Scholar
Peirce, C. S. (1958), Selected Writings: Values in a Universe of Chance. Wiener, P. P. (ed.). New York: Dover.Google Scholar
Peirce, C. S. (1965), Collected Papers. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Pérez Ransanz, A. R. (1985), “El concepto de teoría empírica según van Fraassen”, Crítica 17: 3–12; English version: 13–19.Google Scholar
Przelewski, M. (1969), The Logic of Empirical Theories. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.Google Scholar
Putnam, H. (1962), “What Theories are Not”, in E. Nagel, P. Suppes and A. Tarski (eds.), Logic, Methodology and Philosophy of Science: Proceedings of the 1960 International Congress. Stanford: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Putnam, H. (1981), Reason, Truth and History. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Redhead, M. L. G. (1975), “Symmetry in Inter-Theory Relations”, Synthese 32: 77–112.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Redhead, M. L. G. (1980), “Models in Physics”, British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 31: 145–163.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Salmon, W. (1984), Scientific Explanation and the Causal Structure of the World. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Shapere, D. (1977), “Scientific Theories and Their Domains”, in F. Suppe (ed.), The Structure of Scientific Theories. Urbana, Ill.: University of Illinois Press, pp. 518–565.Google Scholar
Sklar, L. (1977), “Facts, Conventions and Assumptions in the Theory of Space-Time”, in J. Earman, C. Glymour, and J. Stachel (eds.), Foundations of Space-Time Theories. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, pp. 206–274.Google Scholar
Sneed, J. D. (1981), The Logical Structure of Mathematical Physics. Dordrecht: D. Reidel.Google Scholar
Stegmüller, W. (1970), Theorie und Erfahrung Vol. 1. Berlin: Springer.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stegmüller, W. (1976), The Structure and Dynamics of Theories. Berlin: Springer.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stegmüller, W. (1979), The Structuralist View of Theories: A Possible Analogue of the Bourbaki Programme in Physical Science. Berlin: Springer.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Suppe, F. (1967), The Meaning and Use of Models in Mathematics and the Exact Sciences. Ph.D. Thesis, University of Michigan.Google Scholar
Suppe, F. (1977), “The Search for Philosophic Understanding of Scientific Theories”, in F. Suppe (ed.), The Structure of Scientific Theories. Urbana, Ill.: University of Illinois Press, pp. 3–241.Google Scholar
Suppes, P. (1957), Introduction to Logic. New York: van Nosotrand.Google Scholar
Suppes, P. (1961), “A Comparison of the Meaning and Use of Models in Mathematics and the Empirical Sciences”, in H. Freudenthal (ed.), The Concept and the Role of the Model in Mathematics and Natural and Social Sciences. Dordrecht: D. Reidel, pp. 163–177.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Suppes, P. (1967), “What Is a Scientific Theory?”, in S. Morgenbesser (ed.), Philosophy of Science Today. New York: Basic Books, pp. 55–67.Google Scholar
Suppes, P. (1968), “The Desirability of Formalization in Science”, Journal of Philosophy 65: 651–664.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Suppes, P. (1969), Studies in the Methodology and Foundations of Science. Dordrecht: D. Reidel.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Suppes, P. (1970), Set Theoretical Structures in Science. Mimeographed lecture notes, University of Stanford.Google Scholar
Tarski, A. (1935), “Der Wahrheitsbegriff in den formalisierten Sprachen”, Studia Philosophica 1: 261–405; English translation in J. Corcoran (ed.), Logic, Semantics, Metamathematics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
van Fraassen, B. (1970), “On the Extension of Beth's Semantics of Physical Theories”, Philosophy of Science 37: 325–339.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
van Fraassen, B. (1972), “A Formal Approach to the Philosophy of Science”, in R. G. Colodny (ed.), Paradigms and Paradoxes. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, pp. 303–366.Google Scholar
van Fraassen, B. (1980), The Scientific Image. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
van Fraassen, B. (1983), “Glymour on Evidence and Explanation”, in J. Earman (ed.), Testing Scientific Theories. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, pp. 165–176.Google Scholar
van Fraassen, B. (1985a), “Empiricism in the Philosophy of Science”, in P. M. Churchland and C. A. Hooker (eds.). Images of Science: Essays on Realism and Empiricism. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
van Fraassen, B. (1985b), “On the Question of Identification of a Scientific Theory”, Crítica 17: 21–25; Spanish version: 26–29.Google Scholar
von Neumann, J. (1955), Mathematical Foundations of Quantum Mechanics. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
von Weizsäcker, C. F. (1935), “Zur Theorie der Kernmassen”, Zeitschrift für Physik 96: 431–458.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wojcicki, R. (1964), “Set Theoretic Representations of Empirical Phenomena”, Journal of Philosophical Logic 3: 337–343.Google Scholar