ABSTRACT
Up to this point, this book has presented a comparative, historical and epistemological analysis of the different types of models and digital simulations used in the study of plant morphogenesis. It has illustrated the wide range of approaches, along with the rivalry that exists between them. It has also shown that, despite these competing approaches, a historical unifying tendency has clearly emerged: the growing importance of integrative simulations that are, in turn, backed by more complex simulation models. In order to better explain what is at stake in these unprecedented aspects of the computerization of science and technoscience, this new chapter aims first of all to gain a better overview of the issue by first examining it from the level of philosophical and conceptual analysis, and by then returning to review the specific cases that were presented earlier. The characterizations and classifications that I suggest in this new chapter are the result of epistemological work carried out since 1999 based on a series of historical investigations on models and simulations in biology, sociology and geography. These classifications have already been published in part, but largely in French and in publications not directly related to my work in the field of history of science. The publication of this updated English translation of my 2007 work gives me an opportunity to combine these two types of studies so as to offer a results-based assessment of the usefulness of these epistemological classifications in one single work. In the first section of this chapter, I will show that it is necessary to differentiate between three characteristics of models that are often confused in the literature, namely the model’s epistemic function, its substantial nature, and its functional principle. I will then identify three levels of epistemic functions of a model: the general function, the main function and the specific function. This series of distinctions will lead to the identification of twenty-one specific functions of models. Having listed these, I will then expand on certain particular points concerning the different natures and principles of models. Thereafter, I will present a general characterization of simulations, which will make it possible to clearly distinguish between simulations and models. This characterization will be followed by a classification for distinguishing the three different types of computer simulation. Lastly, with the aim of demonstrating the relevance and usefulness of all these characterizations, I will apply them to several models and simulations that I have come across in the course of my longitudinal case study regarding plants. In particular, I will apply them to some of the models that were presented in previous chapters of this book. These characterizations allow a more precise consideration of the distinctive characteristics of the various types of models and simulations. In return, they make it possible to better understand their complementarity and connections.
