It takes a model to beat a model

Abstract

macro-level causal relations forming the structure in the object-oriented ontologies root in properties of entities — as far as the microfoundations project is concerned, mainly in the properties of agents and other irreducible entities. Thus if one is interested in a (partial) analysis of real causal mechanisms, she needs to postulate some causal entity properties that are active in terms of the relations she wishes to represent. Reality thus cuts in. Macro-structures and hence their representations cannot be independent of the underlying properties of entities, of the properties that carry the causal connections. As a consequence, assumptions de fi ning theoretical agents and other entities must be adequate as for the represented causal connections. Thus the question if a model is capable of providing an adequate causal analysis on the chosen facet of reality boils down to the question of the adequacy of the postulated entity properties. It may be possible that the features of Lucas ’ s highly abstract entities support sound