Daniel Rothbart - Collected Quotes

"A narrative is similar to a model in three ways. First, narratives, like models, are conceptual constructions under the control of a story teller. Second, a narrative replicates some aspects of past experiences, recalling events that are at least temporally remote, and in most cases far away. Here's the present teller, close to the reader or listener, and there at a distance is the tale. Third, a narrative has a projective dimension. Reflection on past activity leads to planning and projection of future activity, so that the story teller anticipates encounters yet to occur. The projective aspect of narratives, and models, is essential for revealing unobserved, but observable, events." (Daniel Rothbart [Ed.], "Modeling: Gateway to the Unknown", 2004)

"As the frontiers of science are continually pushed back, and the distance between experimenter and the world widens, the intelligibility of the world demands the construction and manipulation of models. Scientific discourse is often used to convey the information from well-grounded models. Scientific thinking is inescapably modeling and intimately involved with inquiry. ls, is essential for revealing unobserved, but observable, events." (Daniel Rothbart [Ed.], "Modeling: Gateway to the Unknown", 2004)

"In sum, an enlightened understanding of both physical and social phenomena is possible through modeling, as various stages of inquiry. Just as real world models are inseparable from experiences of the empirical world, a narrative is thoroughly implicated in a social encounter. Actors resort to narratives as they respond to the movements of others and project possibilities for future encounters. An actor becomes a virtual witness to an idealized scene, drawing upon past encounters to construct a picture of future, hypothetical events." (Daniel Rothbart [Ed.], "Modeling: Gateway to the Unknown", 2004)

"The unknown has always been alluring. Since the time of the ancients, scientists have refined techniques, apparatus, and methodologies for disclosing things and events that lie beyond the senses. Some of the greatest discoveries of science occur in areas that transcend the here and now, exposing a world that is bizarre in relation to everyday material bodies. Such discoveries reveal alien beings that challenge our capacities of imagination." (Daniel Rothbart [Ed.], "Modeling: Gateway to the Unknown", 2004)

"Through modeling, scientists manipulate symbols with meanings to represent an environment with structure. Such manipulations take place to fulfill a human need, solve a problem, or create a product. When constructing a model, one works in the cognitive space of ideas. Models are used to encapsulate, highlight, replicate or represent patterns of events and the structures of things. Of course, no model provides an exact duplication of the subject matter being modeled. Details are hidden, features are skewed, and certain properties are emphasized. Models are abstract and idealized. As an abstraction, a model omits some features of the subject matter, while retaining only significant properties. As an idealization, a model depicts a subject's properties in a more perfect form." (Daniel Rothbart [Ed.], "Modeling: Gateway to the Unknown", 2004)

"What was impossible, inconceivable, and incoherent based on literal vocabulary becomes possible, conceivable, and coherent through metaphoric redescription. Combinations of terms that were incoherent, in relation to the conventional rules of meaning, become meaningful. Metaphoric description arises from a momentary suspension of the rules for literal vocabulary. The semantics of a metaphor convey an alternative realm of conceptual possibilities, through a new set of possible attributes. Of course, not all scientific language is metaphoric. But when unexpected empirical findings raise serious doubts about a familiar scientific theory, a satisfactory resolution occur through the use of metaphoric vocabulary." (Daniel Rothbart [Ed.], "Modeling: Gateway to the Unknown", 2004)