Abstract
The incompatibility within the context of modeling cannot be established simpliciter. The fact that modeling is understood as an activity whose representational power can only be partially established, may minimize the supposed existence of incompatible models. Indeed, it is argued from perspectivism that incompatibility can be dissolved, meaning that it becomes trivial or simply false due to the inherently pragmatic and partial nature of the act of representation and modeling. From this perspective, incompatibility can only be a consequence of a misunderstanding of the very nature of modeling and representation In this sense, in order to tackle this strategy at its root from perspectivism, we will first need to outline the maximal perspectivism thesis, attempting to identify the possible escape routes that perspectivism could find in order to explain incompatibility as an illusory incompatibility. Then, we will analyze Valence Bond Model and Molecular Model of covalent bonds, and we will conclude that the dissuasive strategies used to minimize and/or disregard incompatibility prove to be fruitless.
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Notes
Surely, this seems to be almost a political and philosophical cleavage – based on community rules of play, and this could imply that a scientific community can change. What is clear is that the ties that identify a scientific community depend on these aspects. For the arguments presented in this work, what is relevant is to recognize that there is no single way to configure a scientific community.
We thank the editor for pointing out that the topic of this paper may have an argumentative confluence with the article in this volume “Why do prima facie intuitive theories work in organic chemistry” written by Hirofumi Ochiai.
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Accorinti, H.L., González, J.C.M. Test case for perspectivism: incompatible models in quantum chemistry. Found Chem (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10698-024-09502-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10698-024-09502-4