Inference and Representation: A Study in Modeling Science

The first comprehensive defense of an inferential conception of scientific representation with applications to art and epistemology.

Mauricio Suárez develops a conception of representation that delivers a compelling account of modeling practice. He begins by discussing the history and methodology of model building, charting the emergence of what he calls the modeling attitude, a nineteenth-century and fin de siècle development. Prominent cases of models, both historical and contemporary, a...