This book addresses several of the foundational problems in thermophysics, i. e. thermodynamics and statistical mechanics. It is an interdisciplinary work in that it examines the philosophical underpinning of scientific models and theories; it also refines the analysis of the problems at hand and delineates the place occupied by various scientific models in a generalized philosophical landscape. Hence, our philosophical - or theoretical - inquiry focuses sharply on the concept of models; and our empirical - or laboratory - evidence is sought in the model-building activities of scientists who...

This book is devoted to a thorough analysis of the role that models play in the practise of physical theory. The authors, a mathematical physicist and a philosopher of science, appeal to the logicians' notion of model theory as well as to the concepts of physicists.

The book contains in-depth discussions in a rigorous manner of a host of interconnected issues and problems concerning the foundations of science. Some issues concern the substance of scientific subjects, such as the nature of spacetime and the problems in quantum mechanics, while other issues concern the methodology of science, such as the nature of theorization, idealization, as well as modeling. These discussions aim at clarifying the issues and problems, reviewing the proposed views and solutions, mapping out their logical spaces, and arguing for preferred views or solutions.