Of Rabbits and Men

Abstract

According to the fiction view of models, scientific models are akin to places and characters in literary fiction. The chapter introduces this view and develops a specific version of the view based on the pretense account of fiction. It then turns to the question of how models represent their targets and formulates an account of representation based on the notions of denotation, exemplification, keying up, and imputation. The notion of denotation, it is argued, is usually borrowed from language and so an account of scientific representation can pursue a reductive strategy as regards denotation. Finally, it is pointed out that the fiction view of models in no way implies that models promulgate falsities and that the fiction therefore does not undermine the authority of science.