ABSTRACT
In Chapter 6 we introduced the problem of what it means for a model to represent its target. We discussed structuralist and similarity accounts and we noted that both accounts face a number of difficulties. Over the last decade, several alternative accounts have been proposed that promise to overcome these difficulties. The aim of this chapter is to introduce, discuss, and evaluate these accounts. We begin with a position dubbed General Griceanism, which casts doubt on the entire endeavour of analysing scientific representation. After dispelling the Gricean’s sceptical challenge, we turn to a position that self-identifies as “direct representation” and then discuss a family of proposals that sails under the banner of “inferentialism”. A different approach emphasises that models represent their targets as thus and so and therefore analyses scientific representation in terms of representation-as, which is the notion the underlies the so-called DEKI account of representation.
