Models *stand in* for the reality they are modeling

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"Economists (just like their astronomer forebears) understand that a model stands in for their economic universe to enable them to explore certain properties of that world represented in the model." -- Mary Morgan, The World in the Model, p. 33 (emphasis mine)

The models of physics are no different: they stand in for certain properties of the real world, and allow us to study them in abstract isolation.

Comments

  1. Ken B10:03 AM

    I know there are people who do not understand this. Still, this seems so obvious ...

    ReplyDelete
  2. scineram11:08 AM

    So physics envy is when they want economics to substitue reality.

    ReplyDelete

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