Scientific modelling and knowledge conversion: a comparative study of representation styles

科学模型的表征性质是科学哲学家的普遍共识：模型通常意味着代表现实的一部分（因此，“目标”），这是创建它们并对它们进行推理的一个关键原因。然而，关于模型和目标之间的表征关系的确切功能的重要问题仍然没有得到回答。这个项目的主要问题集中在将关于模型的知识转化为关于它们的目标的知识。这个问题可以从描述性和规定性两种角度来解决。描述性维度关注知识转换如何发生，规定性维度关注知识转换的认识论正当性和有效性标准。

The representational nature of scientific models is a matter of general consensus among philosophers of science: models are normally meant to represent portions ofreality (henceforth, 'targets'), and this is one pivotal reason for creating them and reasoning about them. However, important questions about the exact functioning ofthe representational relation between models and targets still remain unanswered. The primary question of this project specifically focuses on the conversion ofknowledge about models into knowledge about their targets. This question can be addressed in a descriptive sense and a prescriptive one. The descriptive dimensionregards how knowledge conversion takes place, while the prescriptive one concerns the epistemological justification and validity criteria of this conversion.