Surrogate Reasoning:An Artefactual Approach

Scientific practice revolves around an amazing variety of constructed objects rendered by different representational tools and media. These objects enable inferences concerning the natural and social phenomena in which scientists are interested. Philosophical discussion has approached the epistemic uses of such artefacts in terms of surrogate reasoning. Although this discussion has been insightful, it has remained limited in scope in that it has tended to fuse surrogate reasoning with representation. Roughly put, models have been taken as representations, and model-based representation has been analyzed in terms of surrogate reasoning. Such an understanding of surrogate reasoning latches onto the representational relationship between a model and a target, with the model acting as a surrogate for some identifiable target system. Knuuttila argues for an alternative artefactual approach that widens the discussion of surrogate reasoning beyond representation and modelling by covering: various kinds of scientific constructs; the different analogical and other relations among such objects; the relations between such objects and the features of natural and social systems. She uses examples from synthetic biology and economics to exemplify the artefactual approach to surrogate reasoning. Tarja Knuuttila is Professor of Philosophy of Science at the University of Vienna. Previously she was Associate Professor at the University of South Carolina (USA). She holds Master’s degrees in Economics (Helsinki School of Economics) and in Social and Moral Philosophy (University of Helsinki), and a PhD in Theoretical Philosophy (University of Helsinki). She served as the Editor-in-Chief of Science &amp; Technology Studies (2007–10) and spent 2009–10 as Visiting Research Associate at the California Institute of Technology. Knuuttila’s research is focused on scientific representation and modelling. Her approach is comparative: she has studied modelling in neuroscience, economics, and ecology, as well as in both systems and synthetic biology. Knuuttila also utilizes empirical studies as part of her philosophical agenda. She has published in numerous collections and journals, including British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, Philosophy of Science, Erkenntnis, European Journal for Philosophy of Science, Synthese, Studies in History and Philosophy of Science, Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, The Monist, and Science &amp; Technology Studies. Tarja Knuuttila, Surrogate Reasoning: An Artefactual Approach, lecture, ICI Berlin, 23 January 2023, video recording, mp4, 43:10 <https://doi.org/10.25620/e230123

Imagination extended and embedded : artifactual versus fictional accounts of models

This paper presents an artifactual approach to models that also addresses their fictional features. It discusses first the imaginary accounts of models and fiction that set model descriptions apart from imagined-objects, concentrating on the latter (e.g., Frigg in Synthese 172(2):251-268, 2010; Frigg and Nguyen in The Monist 99(3):225-242, 2016; Godfrey-Smith in Biol Philos 21(5):725-740, 2006; Philos Stud 143(1):101-116, 2009). While the imaginary approaches accommodate surrogative reasoning as an important characteristic of scientific modeling, they simultaneously raise difficult questions concerning how the imagined entities are related to actual representational tools, and coordinated among different scientists, and with real-world phenomena. The artifactual account focuses, in contrast, on the culturally established external representational tools that enable, embody, and extend scientific imagination and reasoning. While there are commonalities between models and fictions, it is argued that the focus should be on the fictional uses of models rather than considering models as fictions.Peer reviewe

Synthetic Modeling and the Functional Role of Noise

In synthetic biology the use of engineering metaphors to describe biological organisms and their behavior has become a common practice. The concept of noise provides one of the most compelling examples of such transfer. But this notion is also confusing: While in engineering noise is a destructive force perturbing artificial systems, in synthetic biology it has acquired an additional functional meaning. It has been found out that noise is an important factor in driving biological processes such as gene regulation, development, and evolution. How did noise acquire this dual meaning in the field of synthetic biology? In this paper we study the emergence of the functional meaning of noise in relation to synthetic modeling. We will pay particular attention to the interdisciplinary aspects of this process highlighting the way borrowed concepts, analogical reasoning and the use of cross-disciplinary computational templates were entwined in it

Synthetic Modeling and Mechanistic Account: Material Recombination and Beyond

Recently, Bechtel and Abrahamsen have argued that mathematical models study the dynamics of mechanisms by recomposing the components and their operations into an appropriately organized system. We will study this claim through the practice of combinational modeling in circadian clock research. In combinational modeling experiments on model organisms and mathematical/computational models are combined with a new type of model—a synthetic model. While we appreciate Bechtel and Abrahamsen’s point that mathematical/computational models are used to provide dynamic mechanistic explanations, we think that the strategy of recomposition is more complicated than what Bechtel and Abrahamsen indicate. Moreover, as we will show, synthetic modeling as a kind of material recomposition strategy also points beyond the mechanistic paradigm

Imagination extended and embedded: artifactual versus fictional accounts of models

AbstractThis paper presents an artifactual approach to models that also addresses their fictional features. It discusses first the imaginary accounts of models and fiction that set model descriptions apart from imagined-objects, concentrating on the latter (e.g., Frigg in Synthese 172(2):251–268, 2010; Frigg and Nguyen in The Monist 99(3):225–242, 2016; Godfrey-Smith in Biol Philos 21(5):725–740, 2006; Philos Stud 143(1):101–116, 2009). While the imaginary approaches accommodate surrogative reasoning as an important characteristic of scientific modeling, they simultaneously raise difficult questions concerning how the imagined entities are related to actual representational tools, and coordinated among different scientists, and with real-world phenomena. The artifactual account focuses, in contrast, on the culturally established external representational tools that enable, embody, and extend scientific imagination and reasoning. While there are commonalities between models and fictions, it is argued that the focus should be on the fictional uses of models rather than considering models as fictions.</jats:p

Umberto Eco ja semiotiikan lupaus

Only abstract. Paper copies of master’s theses are listed in the Helka database (http://www.helsinki.fi/helka). Electronic copies of master’s theses are either available as open access or only on thesis terminals in the Helsinki University Library.Vain tiivistelmä. Sidottujen gradujen saatavuuden voit tarkistaa Helka-tietokannasta (http://www.helsinki.fi/helka). Digitaaliset gradut voivat olla luettavissa avoimesti verkossa tai rajoitetusti kirjaston opinnäytekioskeilla.Endast sammandrag. Inbundna avhandlingar kan sökas i Helka-databasen (http://www.helsinki.fi/helka). Elektroniska kopior av avhandlingar finns antingen öppet på nätet eller endast tillgängliga i bibliotekets avhandlingsterminaler.Tutkielma koostuu viidestä eri artikkelista, joista neljä käsittelee Umberto Econ semiotiikkaa ja myös semiotiikkaa yleensä.Viides artikkeli käsittelee sitä, mitä annettavaa semiotiikalla on filosofialle. Analysoin erityisesti Econ ensyklopedian käsitettä, jonka avulla hän on pyrkinyt lähestymään sitä jaettua kulttuurista tietoa, jota merkitysten luominen, välittäminen ja ymmärtäminen edellyttävät. Ensyklopedian teoriassaan Eco väittää, että tietoamme kielestä (eli kielellistä kompetenssiamme) ei voi viimekädessä erottaa maailmaa koskevasta tiedostamme. Tästä huolimatta Eco päätyy esittämään, että ensyklopediaa voidaan ajatella eräänlaisena itseriittoisena semanttisena systeeminä, jossa merkitykset viittaavat toisiinsa. Itseriittoisuudella tarkoitetaan tässä sitä, että merkkien referentiaalinen suhde semanttisen systeemin muodostaman eräänlaisen virtuaalisen hypertekstin ulkopuoliseen maailmaan voidaan sulkeistaa pois semioottisesta analyysistä. Tutkielmassa pohditaan, miksi Eco päätyy tällaiseen johtopäätökseen, joka tuntuu sotivan hänen semioottisen teoriansa lähtökohtia vastaan. Tutkielmassa argumentoidaan, että Econ semioottisessa teoriassa yksilöllisen merkityksenmuodostuksen ja kollektiivisten konventioiden välinen suhde jää hämäräksi, koska Eco ei ota huomioon niitä kollektiivisia toimintoja, joissa merkitykset syntyvät, ja jotka niitä kannattelevat. Näin ollen Eco joutuu postuloimaan edellä mainitun semanttisen systeemin yrittäessään selittää, miten jaettu merkitys on mahdollinen. Eco myöntää, että hänen "virtuaalisen" ensyklopediansa ontologinen status on hämärä. Näin ollen on olennaista kysyä, voidaanko jaettua merkitystä selittää muulla tavalla. Tutkielmassa esitellään toiminnan teoria yrityksenä lähestyä merkityksen ongelmaa jaetuista inhimillisistä toiminnoista käsin, jolloin Econ ensyklopedian kaltaista itseensäviittaavien merkitysten systeemiä ei tarvitse postuloida. Tutkielmassa ei kuitenkaan ehdoteta ensyklopedian käsitteen hylkäämistä, vaan sen materiaalistamista. Tämän tulkinnan mukaisesti "ensyklopedianamme" toimii ihmisyhteisöjen luomien reaalisten kulttuuristen artefaktien varanto

Models, Fictions and Artifacts

This paper discusses modeling from the artifactual perspective. The artifactual approach conceives models as erotetic devices. They are purpose-built systems of dependencies that are constrained in view of answering a pending scientific question, motivated by theoretical or empirical considerations. In treating models as artifacts, the artifactual approach is able to address the various languages of sciences that are overlooked by the traditional accounts that concentrate on the relationship of representation in an abstract and general manner. In contrast, the artifactual approach focuses on epistemic affordances of different kinds of external representational and other tools employed in model construction. In doing so, the artifactual account gives a unified treatment of different model types as it circumvents the tendency of the fictional and other representational approaches to separate model systems from their “model descriptions”.Published in: Wenceslao J. Gonzalez (ed.) Language and Scientific Research. Palgrave McMillan