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The role and function of scientific models continues to be a topic of intense debate in contemporary philosophy of science. The present project aims at bridging a gap between what appears to be two competing research programmes within the philosophy of models: on the one hand, there are those whose main concern is with the role of models as intermediaries between theory and data, and, on the other, those who emphasise their role as autonomous tools of inquiry. Whereas debate among the former has revolved around issues of representation, research by the latter has focussed on the non-representational uses and material aspects of models, and frequently draws on case studies from actual scientific practice. While the antagonism between the two approaches should not be overstated, especially given the diversity of specific philosophical proposals, the tension between them is widely acknowledged and is a very real feature of the contemporary debate. Partly, this is the inevitable effect of competing philosophical intuitions, partly it is the outcome of a tendency to use the debate about models as a proxy for more global controversies, such as the realism/anti-realism debate.

The goal of the present project is to sidestep such hidden agendas, and to examine the functions of model-based inquiry, along with criteria for its success, drawing on examples from actual scientific practice. At the heart of the project are questions such as: How is representation through models achieved in different scientific contexts? What kinds of insights may be gained from models? What role do idealization and approximation play in the construction and evaluation of models? What are the conditions of validation and confirmation of scientific models, and how do questions of accuracy and completeness affect the status of model-based predictions? What is the relation between models and scientific expertise? In order to provide a focus for tackling these questions, special emphasis will be placed on the discussion of mathematical models and actual case studies, wherever these help to advance the philosophical debate. As part of the present project, an international workshop is currently being planned, which will feature invited speakers and a limited number of contributed papers.