ABSTRACT
This chapter concerns modal modeling practices: scientific modeling practices that are explicitly said to deliver, or should arguably be interpreted as delivering, support for modal conclusions. That includes, for instance, conclusions concerning possible causes, potential properties, and counterfactual histories. The chapter first outlines and gives examples of modal modeling practices and stresses the fact that such practices encompass a number of different kinds of modality, including both epistemic and objective modalities. It then describes three distinct but related sets of methodological and epistemological issues raised by modal modeling and briefly reviews some possible ways to approach them. The chapter ends by highlighting some lacunae in the literature where further work is needed.
