VOL. IV (XXI) 2009 - Departamentul de Filosofie si Stiinte ale ...

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68 “FICTION” AND “MODEL” IN SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE interpretation of these partially concrete, partially abstract models imposes in addition to the first category of models the knowledge of translation codes of the isomorphic aspects from a structural relations’ system into another. At the upper level of the hierarchy Black places the theoretical models which redescribe the scientific field by means of/within metaphorical sentences (for instance the metaphor of the clock universe in the contemporary science, the representation of the electrical field with Maxwell in variation with an incomprehensible imaginary fluid, the computer universe in Steve Wolfram). As P. Ricoeur notes, in this case, interpretation is based on knowledge of the meanings opened at the very intuition’s level. Trying to express the specific characteristics of the theoretical model in comparison to that of the metaphorical constructs in the field of philosophy the French hermeneutist warns in Vaihinger’s manner that scientific imagination cannot be reduced to some “psychology of invention”, as it is actually a cognitive process with specific epistemological principles. If the first types of models reconstruct more or less an original field of research, the theoretical model on the other hand target the role of the scientific imaginary in its heuristic description or re-description. In other words, the first two categories of model have a mimetic function, where reconstruction equals exemplification, and the theoretical models have a cognitive function, as redescription means explanation of the field. This very function assures, in the end, the possibility to distinguish scientific models from the linguistic metaphors 13 . Both Black and Hesse tried through the rationale of the theoretical models to sketch some answer to the problem of theories’ genesis, initiated by the hypothetical-deductive model in science. In Hesse’s view, the hypothetical-deductive model in scientific knowledge must be added the perspective of the scientific explanation to offer a “metaphorical description about the field of the explanandum”. The possibility of the imaginary constructs is thereby supported, especially that of the metaphorical constructs, to refer not only to pre-existing entities but also and more to entities whose occurrence becomes possible under the very influence of the imagination’s process. R. Rorty will submit to acid criticism the idea that metaphor may have a cognitive function. As he takes over an objection previously put together by 13 „Scientific models are prototype, philosophically speaking, for imaginative creations or schemas based on natural language and experience, but they go beyond it by metaphorical extension to construct symbolic worlds that may or may not adequately represent certain aspects of the empirical world. These symbolic worlds all share with scientific models the function of describing and re-describing the world; and for all of them it is inappropriate to ask for literal truth as direct correspondence with the world. Symbolic worlds differ from scientific models, however, in that it is not their function to represent the state of the natural environment for purposes of prediction and control”; Arbib, M.A., Hesse, M.B., Op.Cit., p.161
IASMINA PETROVICI 69 D. Davidson 14 , Rorty maintains that metaphors cannot claim to offer an “image of the world” or to encode certain activities or social practices, but maybe just to make such operations possible by becoming action models. In other words, the metaphorical constructs can express only a literal significance. Both Rorty and Davidson do nothing but create a different reduction: the scientific discovery regarded, in the contemporary Sciences’ philosophy as “aesthetic experience”. As they are not the result of a cognitive endeavor, the imaginary constructs, metaphors especially, are transformed into mere expressions of our desire to express more, means that we have at our disposal when we are making a conviction effort, whether the context is scientific or philosophical, to accept a new scientific paradigm or a new mode of philosophical reflection. Taking into account the specific characteristics of scientific practices, Isabelle Stengers tries to reinstate the cognitive value of the models. As she distinguishes between theory as a result of judgment and model as a result of fiction, the author maintains that models must be regarded as fictional endeavors which target not elimination of their “rivals” but follow up and explanation of the consequences 15 Furthermore, the large development over the last decades of the information technology reveals importance of the scientific models, especially that of the mathematical models, as fictional instruments, and its application by the new sophists (the researchers who use such instruments) imposes that description, explanation and fiction should communicate with one another, including on an experiential level, and not only theoretically. 14 See Rorty, R., Unfamiliar Noises: Hesse and Davidson on Metaphor in Objectivity, Relativism and Truth, Philosophical Papers, vol. 1, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge&New York, 1991, pp. 162-163 15 Stengers, I., Inventarea ştiinţelor moderne, Iaşi, Editura Polirom, 2001, p.142
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VOL. IV (XXI) 2009
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SECTION I: PHILOSOPHY: Contents: Mi
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ANALELE UNIVERSITĂŢII DE VEST DIN
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7 THEATRUM MUNDI interpretation sta
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9 THEATRUM MUNDI aversion of Nietzs
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ANALELE UNIVERSITĂŢII DE VEST DIN
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13 LA SPECIFICITE DES CONCEPTS DES
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15 LA SPECIFICITE DES CONCEPTS DES
Page 17 and 18: 17 LA SPECIFICITE DES CONCEPTS DES
Page 19 and 20: ANALELE UNIVERSITĂŢII DE VEST DIN
Page 21 and 22: 21 VALENCES ÉTHIQUES DE LA RATIONN
Page 35 and 36: 35 THE CHRISTIAN CONCEPT OF GOD AND
Page 51 and 52: ANDREEA NAGY 51 communication entre
Page 53 and 54: ANDREEA NAGY 53 lutte dans le proc
Page 57 and 58: ADRIAN PĂCURAR 57 eastern European
Page 59 and 60: ADRIAN PĂCURAR 59 goods and servic
Page 61 and 62: ADRIAN PĂCURAR 61 to have the capa
Page 65 and 66: IASMINA PETROVICI 65 subjective rep
Page 67: IASMINA PETROVICI 67 metaphorical s
Page 73 and 74: VIRGIL LAURENŢIU SPĂTARU 73 menta
Page 75 and 76: VIRGIL LAURENŢIU SPĂTARU 75 (√-
Page 77 and 78: VIRGIL LAURENŢIU SPĂTARU 77 In th
Page 79 and 80: VIRGIL LAURENŢIU SPĂTARU 79 it be
Page 83 and 84: OANA BARBU 83 We therefore believe
Page 85 and 86: OANA BARBU 85 established contexts,
Page 87 and 88: OANA BARBU 87 text is accompanied b
Page 89 and 90: OANA BARBU 89 As Charles Forceville
Page 91 and 92: OANA BARBU 91 textual, the non-verb
Page 93 and 94: ADINA BAYA 93 In his characterizati
Page 95 and 96: ADINA BAYA 95 own sake, looking and
Page 97 and 98: ADINA BAYA 97 […] I’ve been afr
Page 99 and 100: ADINA BAYA 99 theorizes as the “m
Page 101 and 102: ADINA BAYA 101 engaging in: “Was
Page 103 and 104: ADINA BAYA 103 collective sacrifice
Page 107 and 108: ADRIAN PĂCURAR 107 Russian officia
Page 109 and 110: ADRIAN PĂCURAR 109 its nuclear war
Page 111 and 112: ADRIAN PĂCURAR 111 One of 18 Ohio
Page 113 and 114: ADRIAN PĂCURAR 113 The Kursk wreck
Page 115 and 116: ADRIAN PĂCURAR 115 because that se
Page 117 and 118: ADRIAN PĂCURAR 117 sacrifice for t
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ADRIAN PĂCURAR 119 not so short ne
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References: ADRIAN PĂCURAR 121 Ald
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