Models and theories in the sciences

Abstract

There are key concepts in the diversity of sciences (whether sciences: formal, natural, biosocial or social) such as “theory” or “model” that are subject today to extensive epistemological debate, i.e. from the theory of knowledge, and centered on the study of scientific knowledge in particular. Scientists, then, construct and use different notions that actually carry an exhaustive extrascientific debate about their nature. This paper will offer some clarifications and formal proposals of such notions from the philosophy of science of the astrophysicist and philosopher Gustavo Esteban Romero (G. E. Romero). Specifically, some formal definitions of “theory’ and “model” will be tested for current sciences (and other disciplines that can be applied), and these ideas will be contextualized in the debate on the structure and organization of scientific knowledge.