Goal: The aim of this investigation is to analyze the role that models play in science in general, and in physical, biological, and social sciences in particular, and their relations to scientific theories in general, and of physical, biological, and social sciences in particular, according to metascientific positions of contemporary relevance, taking as case studies different conceptualizations of such areas: (a) Physics: Ptolemy’s system, Brahe’s system, Cartesian mechanics, Newtonian mechanics, thermodynamics of simple systems, quantum mechanics; (b) Biology: classical, molecular and populational genetics, Darwinian and synthetic evolutionary theory, common ancestor theory, population ecology, metabolic and allosteric biochemistry, biochemistry of metabolic pathways and of free radicals, blood circulation, physiology; y (c) Social Sciences: Smith's theory of variations of capital benefits, Marx's theory of value, Merton's theory of reference groups and anomie theory, Giddens' theory of structuration, Freud's psychoanalysis, Skinner's functional analysis of behavior, Harris' archeological stratigraphy.
Pablo Lorenzano
