ABSTRACT
The problem of representation has become a central topic of debate in contemporary philosophy of science. Scientific models function as “vehicles” that represent certain “target systems” in the world, such as the structure of DNA, the growth of carcinogenic cells, the meandering formations of a river, or the propagation of a virus, helping scientists gain new insight about them. However, finding a satisfactory answer to the question “how do models represent natural and social phenomena?” has proved elusive. This is partly because this question entails several different epistemological interrogations that are not always clearly separated from one another, and partly because the diversity of models in science poses a challenge to those attempting to find unifying, all-encompassing theories of scientific representation. This chapter introduces the main questions at stake when philosophers address the so-called “problem of scientific representation”, and sketches some prevalent ways of dealing with them in the recent literature.
