ABSTRACT
Scientific modeling is an indispensable part of contemporary scientific practice. Yet as a separate, identifiable methodology, it did not enter the scientific toolbox until the 19th century. The present chapter surveys how scientific modeling rose to such a prominent place within scientific practice. It does so by reflecting on its historical origins and on the various (representational and non-representational) uses and functions of scientific models. Modeling as a practice, it is argued, consists of a number of component activities that are neither necessitated by the demands of representationalism nor can be easily assimilated to anti-representationalist versions of instrumentalism. Drawing on practice-based accounts within the philosophy of technology, the chapter concludes that much of the value that modeling holds for science derives from the way it allows us to move back and forth between different intentionality relations, i.e., different ways of relating to the world with, and through, scientific models.
