Breaking and Making Models

In this exceptionally diverse collection of essays, Breaking and Making Models casts a wide net to address the multifaceted nature of models and modelling. In this, Holzhey, Kesting, and Peppel marshal a plethora of perspectives to address this broad topic. By drawing on sources ranging from history and philosophy of science, cultural studies, biology, aesthetics, and others, the essays make for an appropriately eclectic experience that breaks the mould of the vast literature surrounding the topic of models and modelling. In this endeavor, they are successful. Not only does the book directly address traditional topics such as representation, it also openly engages in the political, legal, aesthetic, and general intellectual import of the topic. In support of this, the volume also connects to vividly diverse examples, moving effortlessly from large language models to the model organism Physarum polycephalum. This book is recommended for those seeking a refreshing view on models and modelling, especially when challenging one s own discipline-specific views on the topics contained therein. Daniel Brooks, research fellow, Fresh Pond Research Institute.

Breaking and Making Models shows what truly interdisciplinary collaboration and communication can do. The book provides interpretations and politically challenging critiques of models and their limits, from perspectives across the social sciences and humanities, and sets them in conversation with one another. Together, the essays that make up this theoretically and narratively rich text expand our understanding of how models represent and govern our social practices and collective imagination. Quill R Kukla, Professor of Philosophy and Disability Studies, Georgetown University