Table Of ContentModel-Based Reasoning
in Scientific Discovery
Model-Based Reasoning
in Scientific Discovery
Edited by
Lorenzo Magnani
University of Pavia
Pavia, Italy
N ancy J. N ersessian
Georgia Institute of Technology
Atlanta, Georgia
and
Paul Thagard
University of Waterloo
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
Springer Science+Business Media, LLC
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Model-based reasoning in scientifie diseovery/edited by Lorenzo
Magnani, Nancy J. Nersessian and Paul Thagard.
p. em.
Proceedings of an International Conferenee on Model-Based
Reasoning in Seientific Discovery, held December 17-19, 1998, in
Pavia, Italy-T.p. verso.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-4613-7181-6 ISBN 978-1-4615-4813-3 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-4615-4813-3
1. Science-Methodology Congresses. 2. Diseoveries in science
Congresses. 3. Qualitative reasoning Congresses. 1. Magnani,
Lorenzo. II. Nersessian, Nancy J. III. Thagard, Paul.
IV. International Conference on Model-Based Reasoning in Scientific
Discovery (1998: Pavia, Italy)
Q175.32.R45M65 1999
501'.l-de21 99-44860
CIP
Proceedings of the International Conference on Model-Based Reasoning in Scientific Discovery, held
December 17-19, 1998, in Pavia, ltaly
ISBN 978-1-4613-7181-6
© 1999 Springer Seienee+Business Media New York
Originally published by Kluwer Academic / Plenum Publishers in 1999
Softeover reprint ofthe hardeover Ist edition 1999
10987654321
A c.I.P. record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.
Ali rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form
or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming, recording, or otherwise,
without written permission from the Publisher
Preface
The volume is based on the papers that were presented at the Interna
tional Conference Model-Based Reasoning in Scientific Discovery (MBR'98),
held at the Collegio Ghislieri, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy, in December
1998.
The papers explore how scientific thinking uses models and explanatory
reasoning to produce creative changes in theories and concepts.
The study of diagnostic, visual, spatial, analogical, and temporal rea
soning has demonstrated that there are many ways of performing intelligent
and creative reasoning that cannot be described with the help only of tradi
tional notions of reasoning such as classical logic. Traditional accounts of
scientific reasoning have restricted the notion of reasoning primarily to de
ductive and inductive arguments. Understanding the contribution of model
ing practices to discovery and conceptual change in science requires ex
panding scientific reasoning to include complex forms of creative reasoning
that are not always successful and can lead to incorrect solutions. The study
of these heuristic ways of reasoning is situated at the crossroads of philoso
phy, artificial intelligence, cognitive psychology, and logic; that is, at the
heart of cognitive science.
There are several key ingredients common to the various forms of model
based reasoning to be considered in this book. The models are intended as in
terpretations of target physical systems, processes, phenomena, or situations.
The models are retrieved or constructed on the basis of potentially satisfying
salient constraints of the target domain. In the modeling process, various forms
of abstraction are utilized. Evaluation and adaptation take place in light of
structural, causal, and/or functional constraints. Simulation can be used to
produce new states and enable evaluation of behaviors and other factors.
The book also addresses some of the main aspects of the nature of abduc
tion, connecting it to the central epistemological question of hypothesis with
drawal in science and model-based reasoning, where abductive inferences ex
hibit their most appealing cognitive virtues.
The various contributions of the book are written by interdisciplinary re
searchers in philosophy, artificial intelligence, and cognitive science who are
v
vi Preface
active in the area of creative reasoning in science: the most recent results and
achievements about the topics above are illustrated in detail in their papers.
The book is divided in three parts. The ftrst part Models, mental models,
and representations contains the contributions of N.J. Nersessian; D. Bailer
Jones; R. Giere; K. Knoespel; M. Suarez; and K. Dunbar. The second part
Discovery processes and mechanism is composed of the papers of D. Good
ing and T.R. Addis; P. Thagard and D. Croft; T. Harris; V. Raisis; S.
Krauss, L. Martignon, and U. Hoffrage; and F.T. Arecchi. Finally, the last
part, Creative inferences and abduction, include the contributions of J. Me
heus; L. Magnani; I. Niiniluoto; E. Winsberg; F. Hendricks and J. Faye; C.
Pizzi; J. Zytkow.
The conference, and thus indirectly this book, was made possible through
the generous fmancial support of the University of Pavia and of CARIPLO
(Cassa di Risparrnio delle Provincie Lombarde). Their support is gratefully
acknowledged.
The editors, and co-chairs of the conference, would like to express their
appreciation to the other members of the Scientiftc Committee for their sug
gestions and assistance: R. Giere, Department of Philosophy, University of
Minnesota, Minneapolis, USA; David Gooding, Department of Psychology,
University of Bath, Bath, United Kingdom; Joke Meheus, University of
Ghent, Ghent, Belgium; Claudio Pizzi, Department of Philosophy and Social
Sciences, University of Siena, Siena, Italy; Mario Stefanelli, Department of
Computer Science, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy; Raul Valdes-Perez, De
partment of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, USA.
Special thanks to the members of the Local Organizing Committee Maria
Teresa Oldani, Stefania Pernice, Giulio Poletti, Stefano Rini, for their contri
bution in organizing the conference, to Massimo Manganaro, Stefania Per
nice, Anna Maria Marchini for their contribution in the preparation of this
volume, and to the copy-editor Linda d' Arrigo. The preparation of the volume
would not have been possible without the contribution of resources and facili
ties of the Computational Philosophy Laboratory and of the Department of
Philosophy, University of Pavia.
The remaining papers deriving from the presentations given at the Confer
ence will be published in three Special Issues of Journals: in Foundations of
Science, Model-based reasoning in science: learning and discovery; in Phi
losophica, Abduction and scientiftc discovery; in Philosophica, Analogy and
mental modeling in scientific discovery.
Lorenzo Magnani, Pavia, Italy
Nancy J. Nersessian, Atlanta, GA, USA
Paul Thagard, Waterloo, Canada
May 1999
Contents
MODELS, MENTAL MODELS, AND REPRESENTATIONS 3
Model-Based Reasoning in Conceptual Change 5
Nancy J. Nersessian
Tracing the Development of Models in the Philosophy of Science 23
Daniela M. Bailer-Jones
Using Models to Represent Reality 41
Ronald N. Giere
Models and Diagrams within the Cognitive Field 59
Kenneth J. Knoespel
Theories; Models, and Representations 75
Mauricio Suarez
How Scientists Build Models InVivo Science as a Window
on the Scientific Mind 85
Kevin Dunbar
vii
viii Contents
DISCOVERY PROCESSES AND MECHANISMS 101
A Simulation of Model-Based Reasoning
about Disparate Phenomena 103
David C. Gooding and Tom R. Addis
Scientific Discovery and Technological Innovation: Ulcers,
Dinosaur Extinction, and the Programming Language Java 125
Paul Thagard and David Croft
A Hierarchy of Models and Electron Microscopy 139
Todd Harris
Expansion and Justification of Models:
the Exemplary Case of Galileo Galilei 149
Vasitis Raisis
Simplifying Bayesian Inference: the General Case 165
Stefan KraufJ, Laura Martignon, and Ulrich Hoffrage
Complexity versus Complex Systems:
A New Approach to Scientific Discovery 181
F. Tito Arecchi
CREATIVE INFERENCES AND ABDUCTION 197
Model-Based Reasoning in Creative Processes 199
Joke Meheus
Model-Based Creative Abduction 219
Lorenzo Magnani
Abduction and Geometrical Analysis.
Notes on Charles S. Peirce and Edgar Allan Poe 239
Ilkka Niiniluoto
The Hierarchy of Models in Simulation 255
Eric Winsberg
Abducting Explanation 271
Vincent F. Hendricks and Jan Faye
Contents ix
Fictionalism and the Logic of "As If' Conditionals 293
Claudio Pizzi
Scientific Modeling: A Multilevel Feedback Process 311
Jan M. Zytkow
Author Index 327
Subject Index 333
Model-Based Reasoning
in Scientific Discovery
This schematism of our understanding in regard to phe
nomena and their mere form, is an art, hidden in the depths
of the human soul, whose true modes of action we shall
only with difficulty discover and unveil
Immanuel Kant, The Critique ofP ure Reason
