Quantum chemistry and the representationalist view of scientific models

HERNÁN ACCORINTI; OLIMPIA LOMBARDI; MANUEL HERRERA

Torino

Congreso; 2019 ISPC Annual Symposium; 2019

University of Torino

The case of different modelsof a same target was extensively studied in the literature.Nevertheless, from a representationalist position it can be argued that,although the model was successful in his time, it was left aside when the newmodel was formulated; this last one is the representative model.Quantum chemistry shows cases in which a single model embodies contradictoryelements: the case in which an assumption that contradicts a consequenceof the theory on which the model is based (in the orbital approximation); thecase of an assumption that contradicts a postulate of the theory on which themodel is based, since coming from a different, ontologically incompatibletheory (in the Born-Oppenheimer approximation). In this kind of cases,advocating for a representationalist conception of models is more difficult. Inother words, the models of quantumchemistry seem to offer a further and stronger challenge to therepresentationalist view of scientific models.