Roman Frigg

Frigg's philosophy draws extensively from his physics background. He often takes examples from the field to demonstrate how order is emergent, holistic, and contextual by universal and exceptionless laws.{{Cite book|title=Rethinking Order: After the Laws of Nature|last1=Cartwright|first1=Nancy|last2=Ward|first2=Keith|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|year=2016|isbn=978-1-4742-4406-0|location=London|pages=55}} For instance, together with Robert Bishop, he explained that there is self-organization and patterns of emergent order in the universe rather than a system being built up just from independently calculated movement of its part. This theory is applied to explain phenomena such as heavenly bodies, global politics, and even family life, among others with the view that a domain is regarded as ordered once its objects are seen as behaving according to a general law.

Along with some philosophers like Gabrielle Contessa and Peter Godfrey-Smith, Frigg also theorizes that there are parallels between theoretical modelling and works of fiction that involve fictional characters.{{Cite book|title=Models as Make-Believe: Imagination, Fiction and Scientific Representation|last=Toon|first=Adam|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|year=2012|isbn=978-0-230-30121-4|location=New York|pages=17}} For the philosopher, the best way to understand mathematical models is to approach it as if they were more closely related to literary fictions than to bits of mathematics.{{Cite book|title=Simulation and Similarity: Using Models to Understand the World|last=Weisberg|first=Michael|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2013|isbn=978-0-19-993366-2|location=New York|pages=46}} This can be demonstrated in the way Frigg draws from Kendall Walton's theory, which offers a framework of understanding games of make-believe and uses it to understand the nature and varieties of representation in the arts of art and fiction.Walton, Kendall L. "Mimesis as Make-Believe: On the Foundations of the Representational Arts". Harvard University Press, 1990 Frigg proposed that scientists' prepared descriptions are analogous to props in games of make believe and that the descriptions do not require imaginings about actual objects but ask us to imagine a model-system. It is believed that this approach addresses the concept of model individuation - that "if models are simply mathematical objects, then when two distinct models use the same mathematics, we will not be able to individuate them as separate objects."

• Roman Frigg, [http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/1730/1/U185091.pdf Re-presenting Scientific Representation]. London School of Economics, University of London, September 2003.
• Roman Frigg, Matthew Hunter (eds.). Beyond mimesis and convention: representation in art and science. Springer Netherlands, 2010.

Articles, a selection:

• {{cite journal | last=Frigg | first=Roman | title=On the property structure of realist collapse interpretations of quantum mechanics and the so-called "counting anomaly" | journal=International Studies in the Philosophy of Science | publisher=Informa UK Limited | volume=17 | issue=1 | year=2003 | issn=0269-8595 | doi=10.1080/02698590305232 | pages=43–57| s2cid=10241494 | url=http://sas-space.sas.ac.uk/1041/1/R_Frigg_Realist.pdf }}
• {{cite journal | last1=Frigg | first1=Roman | last2=Reiss | first2=Julian | title=The philosophy of simulation: hot new issues or same old stew? | journal=Synthese | publisher=Springer Science and Business Media LLC | volume=180 | issue=1 | date=25 June 2009 | issn=0039-7857 | doi=10.1007/s11229-009-9577-x | pages=77| s2cid=19243684 | url=http://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/3495/1/Simulations_August_2007.pdf }}
• {{cite journal |last1=Frigg |first1=Roman | author-link= Roman Frigg |year=2006 |title=Scientific Representation and the Semantic View of Theories |journal=Theoria |volume=55 |issue=2 |pages=183–206 |publisher=The University of Chicago Press |url=http://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/2926/1/Scientific_Representation.pdf |accessdate=14 February 2013}}
• {{cite journal | last=Frigg | first=Roman | title=Models and fiction | journal=Synthese | publisher=Springer Science and Business Media LLC | volume=172 | issue=2 | date=27 March 2009 | issn=0039-7857 | doi=10.1007/s11229-009-9505-0 | pages=251–268| s2cid=1685834 }}
• {{cite journal | last1=Frigg | first1=Roman | last2=Votsis | first2=Ioannis | title=Everything you always wanted to know about structural realism but were afraid to ask | journal=European Journal for Philosophy of Science | publisher=Springer Science and Business Media LLC | volume=1 | issue=2 | year=2011 | issn=1879-4912 | doi=10.1007/s13194-011-0025-7 | pages=227–276| s2cid=1500468 | url=http://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/11218/1/Structuralism.pdf }}
• {{cite encyclopedia |last1= Roman |first1= Frigg |author-link1=Roman Frigg |last2= Hartmann |first2= Stephan | author-link2= Stephan Hartmann |editor-last= Zalta |editor-first=Edward N. |encyclopedia= The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy |title=Models in Science |trans-title= |url=http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2012/entries/models-science/ |access-date=24 July 2015 |language= |edition=Fall 2012 |date= 27 February 2006|publisher= |series= |volume= |location= |id= |isbn= |oclc= |doi= |pages= |quote= }}

{{Reflist}}

• [http://romanfrigg.org/ Roman Frigg] Personal website

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Category:1972 births

Category:Living people

Category:Swiss philosophers

Category:Philosophers of science

Category:University of Basel alumni

Category:Alumni of the University of London

Category:Academics of the London School of Economics

Category:Swiss male writers

Category:People from Basel-Stadt