Philosophy of Science: Processes of the mind

Processes of the mind

The most effective way to explain a difficult concept and to assist others to understand that concept is through models, metaphors and analogies. These three mechanisms are different by nature but can all be used for the same purpose: explanation. Metaphors and analogies are notably not too dissimilar by nature as they typically manifest the ways in which information can be generated. The two concepts can be used in the sciences, law, engineering, medicine and in every day situations. Once the contexts in which metaphors and analogies operate is understood, this understanding can give further explanation for the use of scientific models. Scientists discern interpretations arising from empirical data by using scientific models.

Scientific Models

Whenever someone uses the word phenomenon they would be doing so to describe an object or process. Scientific models are crucial to phenomenon – because they describe, through interpretation, the phenomenon. This description gives access to a more holistic understanding of the phenomenon. The interpretation would focus on particular aspects of the object or process. While this allows for a thorough understanding of the phenomenon, it may result in some aspects being erased from the interpretation that would have otherwise formed a critical part of its meaning. Therefore, scientific models may be criticised as being partial.

Scientific models can be expressed from the concrete to the abstract through drawings, tables, writings, surveys, mathematics and pictures. Basically, any type of model that offers an expression of something else can give access to intellectual understanding, and thus can be classified as a scientific model. Moreover, scientific models comprise of anything that is capable of describing empirical phenomena. Not all models are metaphors nor are they all dependent on analogies. However, interestingly, some models can be equated to metaphors and do in fact rely on analogies. These types of models are the ones used by scientists to develop scientific interpretations from empirical data that they address through their research.

Analogies

Analogy is best understood as pointing towards a relationship between things that exist in two different domains, in proportion to each other (as in Greek, the word analogy can be translated to mean proportion). Accordingly, analogies can create proper and formal relationships between objects and processes or between the theoretical treatments of phenomenon. Norman Campbell opines that analogies are more like theories, which contain a hypothesis, a set of propositions, subjects and ideas. This is because in order for a theory to be valuable, it must contain an analogy and that analogies are only ever used in the context of asserting a theory.

The most common theme of discussion when talking about analogies is marked between theoretical treatments of different empirical phenomena and the examination of the prospective use of the analogy for the purposes of scientific pursuit to discovery and new ideas. Analogies clarify ambiguities by making the transition for something unfamiliar to something more familiar. This is why analogies provide for explanations for already accepted scientific models. They can operate to explain difficult things by promoting understanding of objects and processes. Analogies are most effective when they present a system of connected knowledge that has the ability to carry out structural alignment of human cognitive processing. Analogies are like a path on which one can walk to find a method of discovery. The latter sentence is an analogy in itself – or one might consider the path of discovery to be a metaphor to the concept of analogies. This illustrates that there is no clear line distinguishing between analogies and metaphors.

Metaphors

Metaphors provide for a description of aspects of an expression where there was no such description before. They take one part of an expression from the source domain (where that aspect of the expression is common) and transfers it to the target domain (where the aspect of the expression is unusual or merely new, but not normal). Situations that call for a metaphor to be made are those in which the two domains relate to each other in some way. Analogies are often exploited to construct models about certain phenomenon, and this is why scientific models are sometimes classified as metaphors.

It is difficult to discern the conditions through which people may comprehend metaphors, and distinguish metaphorical from literal reasoning. However, as a general proposition, a) metaphors are easy to interpret; b) metaphors are never too unusual because the brain expects it; c) historical metaphors are more complicated to interpret because they may be judged literally out of unexpectedness. Metaphors can create similarity between expressions associated with different domains. The meanings of expressions are thus extended to generate new ideas through interaction in a system of observation.

Metaphorical Models

Models, analogies and metaphors have much to do with familiarity. It is important to note that familiarity is just a factor in understanding – as it cannot equate with understanding. Further, understanding cannot be confined to the exercise of making analogies – but analogies are a way in which one can better understand an object or process. Briefly put, a model is an interpretation or description of an empirical phenomenon. The task of scientific models is to facilitate access to phenomena. Metaphors may have the same function as models, but the main function of metaphors is to transfer one expression from a source domain and apply it to a target domain. Both metaphors and models are descriptions rather than analogies. Analogy deals with similarities of attributes, relations or processes by connecting domains that were previously disconnected.