Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-2lccl Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-26T00:35:45.887Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Getting Serious about Similarity

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2022

Abstract

Although most philosophical accounts about model/world relations focus on structural mappings such as isomorphism, similarity has long been discussed as an alternative account. Despite its attractions, proponents of the similarity view have not provided detailed accounts of what it means that a model is similar to a real-world target system. This article gives the outlines of such an account, drawing on the work of Amos Tversky.

Type
Fictions, Models and Representation
Copyright
Copyright © 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

Many thanks to Matt Bateman, Brett Calcott, Zoltan Domotor, Alkistis Elliott-Graves, Emily Parke, Isabelle Peschard, Daniel Singer, Martin Thomson-Jones, Bas van Fraassen, Scott Weinstein, and Deena Skolnick Weisberg for comments and suggestions. This research was supported, in part, by National Science Foundation grant SES-0957189.

References

Attneave, F. 1950. “Dimensions of Similarity.” American Journal of Psychology 63:516–56.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cartwright, N. 1983. How the Laws of Physics Lie. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Giere, R. N. 1988. Explaining Science: A Cognitive Approach. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goodman, N. 1972. “Seven Strictures on Similarity.” In Problems and Projects. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill.Google Scholar
Kitcher, P. 1993. The Advancment of Science. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Muldoon, R., Smith, T., and Weisberg, M.. 2012. “Segregation That No One Seeks.” Philosophy of Science 79:3862.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Quine, W. 1969. “Natural Kinds.” In Ontological Relativity and Other Essays. New York: Columbia University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schelling, T. C. 1978. Micromotives and Macrobehavior. New York: Norton.Google Scholar
Shepard, R. N. 1980. “Multidimensional-Scaling, Tree-Fitting, and Clustering.” Science 210:390–98.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shepard, R. N.. 1987. “Toward a Universal Law of Generalization for Psychological Science.” Science 237:1317–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tversky, A. 1977. “Features of Similarity.” Psychological Review 84:327–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tversky, A., and Gati, I.. 1978. “Studies of Similarity.” In Cognition and Categorization, ed. Rosch, E. and Lloyd, B.. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Weisberg, M. 2007. “Three Kinds of Idealization.” Journal of Philosophy 104 (12): 639–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar