Scientific Models and Games of Make-Believe: A Modal-Logical Perspective

Abstract

objects (like an ideal pendulum) do not have the same properties as concrete physical systems and Frigg approves of that idea and concedes that a property is not instantiated by a real object in the same way as by a fictional one. In the latter case, according to Frigg, in keeping with a game of make-believe, one has to imagine that the model object has properties, whereas, in the target system, one deals with real properties. In short, Frigg does not accept similarities between objects which are ontologically different, but bases his idea on similarities between properties which are ontologically different. One should not presuppose the notion of “similar properties”, it has to be constructed or at least established. 43 Frigg, 2010b, 273.