“Idealized, inaccurate but successful: a pragmatic approach to evaluating models in theoretical ecology”

Our next meeting will be Tuesday, October 23 at 7:35 p.m. in the 2nd floor lounge of the West Duke building on East Campus.
Last week we had a pretty good discussion that eventually became about whether non-predictive models could ever be useful. So we decided to read someone who argues they can. In this article, Jay Odenbaugh argues that models have a myriad of uses– not just prediction. The article is “Idealized, inaccurate but successful: a pragmatic approach to evaluating models in theoretical ecology.”
I’m also circulating Peter Godfrey-Smith’s “The Strategy of Model-Based Science.” It might be a good reference to anyone interested in this debate.