Cailin O’Connor is an assistant professor of logic and philosophy of science at the University of California, Irvine. Her work primarily examines how individuals and groups acquire and disseminate information, exploring the significant consequences for knowledge, ethics, and politics. She investigates strategies for improving our information ecosystems to foster more rational and informed decision-making.
This Element will overview research using models to understand scientific practice. It argues that while these models are epistemically useful, the best way to employ most of them to understand and improve science is in combination with empirical methods and other sorts of theorizing.