Inference and Representation: A Study in Modeling Science by Mauricio Suárez (University of Chicago Press, 2024)

Review of "Inference and Representation: A Study in Modeling Science" by Mauricio Suárez (University of Chicago Press, 2024). Published in Philosophy - The Journal of the Royal Institute of Philosophy (Cambridge University Press)In this review I situate Suarez's book in relation to his previous work and I give a brief summary of key points that he discusses in the book, including his views on the history of modeling practices, his descriptions of particular modeling cases, his criticism of "substantive" accounts of representation (i.e., in terms of similarity and isomorphism) and his defense of a "reductive naturalist" and "deflationary" alternative account. I conclude with a brief critical note concerning the aesthetic and epistemological points that Suárez addresses in the two final chapters of the book, on the supposed relation between scientific and artistic representation: there, I emphasize the benefits of pragmatism/artifactualism as supporting a more engaged rather than spectatorial way of thinking about models and their epistemic significance for scientists.