Donaghy, Josephine (Author)
History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences
Volume: 35, no. 4
Issue: 4
Pages: 533-552
This paper considers how the relationship between mathematical models and theories in biology may change over time, on the basis of a historical analysis of the development of a mathematical model of metabolism, metabolic control analysis, and its relationship to theories of metabolic control. I argue that one can distinguish two ways of characterising the relationship between models and theories, depending on the stage of model and/or theory development that one is considering: partial independence and autonomy. Partial independence describes a model's relationship with existing theory, thus referring to relationships that have already been established between model and theory during model construction. By contrast, autonomy is a feature of relationships which may become established between model and theory in the future, and is expressed by a model's open ended role in constructing emerging theory. These characteristics have often been conflated by existing philosophical accounts, partly because they can only be identified and analysed when adopting a historical perspective on scientific research. Adopting a clear distinction between partial independence and autonomy improves philosophical insight into the changing relationship between models and theories.
...MoreSimilar Citations
Article
Diéguez, Antonio;
(2013)
When do Models Provide Genuine Understanding, and Why Does It Matter?
Article
Ludwig, David;
(2013)
Mediating Objects: Scientific and Public Functions of Models in Nineteenth-Century Biology
Chapter
Israel, Giorgio;
(2002)
The Two Faces of Mathematical Modeling: Objectivism vs. Subjectivism, Simplicity vs. Complexity
Article
Baravalle, Lorenzo;
(2014)
Potencialidades e limites das explicaçães evolutivas da cultura: um enfoque diacrônico
Article
Matthieu Husson;
(2014)
La tabula tabularum de Jean de Murs et les modèles de l’arithmétique médiévale
Article
Gramelsberger, Gabriele;
(2011)
What Do Numerical (Climate) Models Really Represent?
Article
Adrian Currie;
(2020)
Bottled Understanding: The Role of Lab Work in Ecology
Chapter
Porter, Theodore M.;
(2002)
Models, Analogies, and Statistical Reason, 1760-1900
Book
Bialynicki-Birula, Iwo;
Bialynicki-Birula, Iwona;
(2004)
Modeling Reality: How Computers Mirror Life
Book
de Regt, Henk W.;
Leonelli, Sabina;
Eigner, Kai;
(2009)
Scientific Understanding: Philosophical Perspectives
Article
Blumenthal, Stanley A.;
(2012)
Earl Sutherland (1915--1975) and the Discovery of Cyclic Amp
Article
Jan Baedke;
(2019)
O Organism, Where Art Thou? Old and New Challenges for Organism-Centered Biology
Article
Prebble, John N.;
(2010)
The Discovery of Oxidative Phosphorylation: A Conceptual Off-Shoot from the Study of Glycolysis
Book
Campos, Luis A.;
(2015)
Radium and the Secret of Life
Article
Kate Hindle;
(2024)
D'Arcy Thompson on flight
Book
Martins, Lilian Al-Chueyer Pereira;
(2007)
A Teoria da Progressão dos Animais, de Lamark
Article
Beintema, Jaap J.;
(2008)
The Last Month of Szent-Györgyi in Groningen
Article
Maureen A. O’Malley;
Russell Powell;
(2015)
Major Problems in Evolutionary Transitions: How a Metabolic Perspective Can Enrich Our Understanding of Macroevolution
Article
Büttner, Johannes;
(2007)
Oeconomia animalis: Zur Vorgeschichte des Stoffwechselbegriffs
Article
K.-B.G. Scholthof;
(2004)
Tobacco mosaic virus: A model system for plant biology
Be the first to comment!