The Modeling of Nature: The Philosophy of Science and the Philosophy of Nature in Synthesis

by William A. Wallace

As the new millennium approaches, our scientific knowledge of the universe surpasses that of any previous age. Yet, paradoxically, the philosophy of science movement is now in disarray. The collapse of logical empiricism and the rise of historicism and social constructivism have effectively left all of the sciences without an epistemology. The claims of realism have become increasingly difficult to justify, and, for many, the only alternatives are probabilism, pragmatism, and relativism.

But the case is not hopeless. According to William A.Wallace, a return to a realist concept of nature is plausible and, indeed, much needed. Human beings have a natural ability to understand the world in which they live. Many have suggested this understanding requires advanced logic and mathematics. Wallace believes that nature can more readily be understood with the aid of simple modeling techniques.

Through an ingenious use of iconic and epistemic models, Wallace guides the reader through the fundamentals of natural philosophy, explaining how the universe is populated with entities endowed with different natures― inorganic, plant, animal, and human. Much of this knowledge is intuitive, already in people's minds from experience, education, and exposure to the media. Wallace builds on this foundation, making judicious use of cognitive science to provide a model of the human mind that illuminates not only the philosophy of nature but also the logic, psychology, and epistemology that are prerequisite to it.

With this background, Wallace sketches a history of the philosophy of science and how it has functioned traditionally as a type of probable reasoning. His concern is to go beyond probability and lay bare the epistemic dimension of science to show how it can arrive at truth and certitude in the various areas it investigates. He completes his study with eight case studies of certified scientific growth, the controversies to which they gave rise, and the methods by which they ultimately were resolved.

The Modeling of Nature provides an excellent introduction to the fundamentals of natural philosophy, psychology, logic, and epistemology.

William A. Wallace has taught philosophy of science at the University of Maryland since 1988. For twenty-five years prior to that, he taught both the philosophy and history of science at The Catholic University of America. He served with distinction as a naval officer during World War II, following which he entered the Dominican Order, being ordained a priest in 1953. He has published sixteen books and more than three hundred scholarly articles.

Genres: Philosophy, Science

450 pages, Paperback

First published November 30, 1996

About the author

Fr. William Augustine Wallace, O.P. taught at a number of institutions throughout his life, including the Dominican Houses of Studies in Springfield, KY, Dover, MA, and Washington, DC, the Catholic University of America, and the University of Maryland. In addition to his teaching and publishing, Fr. Wallace served as the Director General of the Leonine Commission for the editing of the Latin texts of St. Thomas Aquinas from 1976-1987.

Reviews

[Alan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book contains an excellent balance of history and philosophy of science. It and Dr. Wolfgang Smith's The Quantum Enigma: Finding The Hidden Key make an excellent set of resources that every modern empiriological scientist should read in order to understand how to do science within a solid philosophical framework.

For a published review, see The Thomist 61 (1997): 625-40.

Vide also the ICU course.

[Jeffrey Kahl · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a non-scientist, I found this book a helpful introduction to basic conceptual knowledge and organizational models that are used to grasp the fundamental building blocks of nature.

The author avoids a crude materialism or “scientism” that reduces all knowledge to mere physical facts, and he also rejects relativism which dismisses all truth claims. Rather, he avers that all knowledge is rooted in our study of the physical world, and that scientists develop various models for understanding and using what they learn. These models are true, but they are not exhaustive of reality. To grasp the full meaning of reality we must move beyond the physical (hence the term “metaphysics”—“meta” means “beyond”). It is in deeper metaphysical questions that we get deeper answers about nature, man, and the meaning of the universe.

[Daniel · Rating 1 out of 5]

This terrible little book attempts to cram the gigantic square peg of a modern understanding of the natural world into the small round hole of Aristotle. It fails from the get-go, a mess of circular reasoning and increasingly tortuous rationalization that strains credulity. Its only redeeming features are a few descriptions of (perhaps high school level) science history, though these are inevitably accompanied by a deluge of convoluted sophistry as the author shuffles Aristotle's four causes like the cups in a street hustler's shell game.

Perhaps its most offensive aspect--aside from his wretched treatment of biology, an accounting of which could fill its own book--is the author's repeated warning to his reader that this material is "difficult." The astute reader should recognize this maneuver as an aggressive form of lampshade hanging. The author is implying that if his material is incomprehensible, the problem lies in you--the reader--rather than the obvious deficiencies in his own reasoning and premises. Perhaps this book is "difficult" to understand. Time Cube is also "difficult" in this way.

In summary, I cannot recommend this book based on content or concept, and it stumbles at even the simple courtesy of being entertaining.