Multiple-Models Juxtaposition and Trade-Offs among Modeling Desiderata

Abstract

This paper offers a characterization of what I call multiple-models juxtaposition (MMJ), a strategy for managing trade-offs among modeling desiderata. MMJ displays models of distinct phenomena together and fulfills different desiderata both in the individual models and by a comparison of those models. I discuss a concrete case from developmental biology, where MMJ coordinates generality and detail. I also clarify the distinction between MMJ and multiplemodels idealization (MMI), which also uses multiple models to manage trade-offs among desiderata. MMJ and MMI differ in several points, such as the ways they manage trade-offs and the purposes of using multiple models.

Joint representation: Modeling a phenomenon with multiple biological systems

“…Different mechanisms are depicted in a way that highlights certain common features, such as the functional distinction between leader and follower cells, while differences in cellular arrangements and signaling molecules are also indicated. This form of presentation suggests that whereas the researchers are interested in common features among those mechanisms, differences between them are also noteworthy and non-negligible (see Yoshida, 2021). One might expect that the diversity of mechanisms can be understood simply in terms of molecular details differing across mechanisms, and that all mechanisms of collective cell migration still share the same set of abstract principles.…”