title: The nature and function of models.
abstract: There is no best scientific model of anything; there are only models more or less good for different purposes. Thus, there is no general answer to the question of whether one should model biological behavior using computer simulations or robots. It all depends on what one wants to learn. This is not a question about models, but about scientific goals.
authors.affiliation: Center for Philosophy of Science, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455 giere@umn.edu http://www.tc.umn.edu/~giere/
authors.forename: Ronald N
authors.initials: RN
authors.lastname: Giere