Re: [Phys-L] nature +- observations +- models

[John Denker <jsd@av8n.com>]

On 08/21/2016 10:35 AM, Derek McKenzie wrote:
>  I think a lot about
> the philosophy of physics and my current view is that many pedagogical
> issues would disappear if we could convince students that there is no
> such thing as understanding what is *really* going on in this or that
> experiment/phenomenon. All we can do is find better or worse ways to
> represent it through a model. 

I agree with that about 98%.  However, beware that it is possible
to go too far in the direction of relying on "the" model.

In particular, you have to figure out what to do when "the" model goes
haywire.  It might be inconsistent with experiment, or inconsistent
with some other model, or just plain inconsistent with itself (e.g.
as revealed by a Gedankenexperiment).

It's not at all guaranteed that the model tells you what's *really*
going on.