La notion de modèle dans les sciences sociales: anciennes et nouvelles significations

Abstract

The model is today a crucial notion in the social and physical sciences. Revisiting several philosophical or historical works on models, the author gives elements for a genealogy of this category, ranging from its use by Maxwell and Boltzmann in physics to the debates of the Vienna circlce on model theory in mathematical logic, and later, the irruption of the notion in the field of social sciences around World War 2, due to the progress made in applied mathematics, computer science and simulations as well as in structural modelling and operational research. The study of complex objects such as ecosystems, the climate or the world economy, which can not be represented within the framework of a single theory, have necessitated a plurality of approaches to knowledge, some of which are theoretical, others empirical. The model, and the software that is used must seek to integrate these various elements of knowledge, while taking into account the aims of the modelling activity; arbitrages, decisions about actions and the management of systems. Rather than a cognitive mediator between theory and observation, modelling has come to be a social and political activity, intrinsically linked to the motivations of the participating actors and to collective decisions.

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