Scientific Understanding and Representation (SURe)

Representations play a central role in scientists’ understanding of the world. From mathematical models to diagrams, different representations in highly varied contexts yield diverse insights across the physical, biological, and social sciences. Despite the fact that how a phenomenon is represented has far-reaching ramifications for how it is understood, the literatures on scientific understanding and scientific representation are largely independent of each other. The time is ripe to foster greater synergy between these two areas in the philosophy of science, as they face complementary problems—and hold the promise of complementary solutions.