The Semantic View and the Alpha-model

Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Penn collection
CUREJ - College Undergraduate Research Electronic Journal
Degree type
Discipline
Subject
semantic view of theories
alpha-model
network theory
graph theory
model
fit
Bas van Fraassen
Duncan Watts
Elisabeth Lloyd
Frederick Suppe
Humanities
Weisberg
Michael
Michael Weisberg
Philosophy
Funder
Grant number
License
Copyright date
Distributor
Related resources
Contributor
Abstract

In what follows, I discuss the semantic view of theories, specifically in the ‘state space’ formulation that has been developed by Bas van Fraassen, Frederick Suppe, and others and applied by Elisabeth Lloyd. I consider the claims that the state space view makes about how scientific theories are best understood. I then discuss a particular model from network theory, the alpha-model developed by Duncan Watts, and try to apply the state space view to the alpha-model theory. I argue that the way Watts uses the alpha-model is not described very easily under the state space approach, because its parameters are idealized in a way that the state space approach does not account for, and because the relation between the alpha-model and the world is not one of statistical fit between its models and data.

Advisor
Michael
Weisberg
Date Range for Data Collection (Start Date)
Date Range for Data Collection (End Date)
Digital Object Identifier
Series name and number
Publication date
2007-04-09
Journal title
Volume number
Issue number
Publisher
Publisher DOI
Journal Issue
Comments
Recommended citation
Collection