WIPS: “Analogizing the Brain: The Way Analogies Can Structure Scientific Modeling and Ontology”

Abstract:  Talk Abstract: Scientific pluralism (or what I will call “model pluralism”) has garnered a great deal of attention in recent years. According to this view, we cannot use a single scientific model or representation to characterize all features of a complex system or phenomenon, and we are instead dependent on employing collections of distinct, and often contradictory, models in order to learn about different facets of it. While there have been different reasons offered to explain why this is the case, I propose there is an often-overlooked factor that may play an important role in understanding model pluralism. Specifically, that the role analogies play in model building provides essential insights into why we are so dependent on collections of incompatible models when studying one and the same complex phenomenon. In addition to this, I argue that the way in which analogical reasoning influences model building also provides new insights into how our cognitive ontology can shift and change over time in subtle ways.