Am Nat. 2020 Feb;195(2):290-299. doi: 10.1086/705991. Epub 2019 Nov 27.
Considering the role of theory in ecology and evolution, we argue that scientific theorizing involves an interplay between narratives and models in which narratives play a key creative and organizing role. Specifically, as scientists, we reason through the use of narratives that explain biological phenomena by envisaging, or mentally simulating, causal paths leading from a plausible initial state to an outcome of interest. Within these narratives, some parts may appear clear, while others may appear puzzling. It is at these tenuous junctions-junctions where reasoning is made challenging by conflicting possible outcomes-that we often build mathematical models to support and extend, or reject and revise, our narratives. Accordingly, models, both analytical and computational, are framed by and interpreted within a narrative. We illustrate these points using case studies from population genetics. This perspective on scientific theorizing helps to clarify the nature of theoretical debates, which often arise from the narratives in which math is embedded, not from the math itself. Finally, this perspective helps place appropriate creative weight on the importance of developing, revising, and challenging narratives in the scientific enterprise.
考虑到理论在生态学和进化生物学中的作用，我们认为，科学理论化涉及叙事和模型之间的相互作用，其中叙事起着关键的创造性和组织作用。具体来说，作为科学家，我们通过使用叙事来推理，通过设想（或在心理上模拟）从合理的初始状态到感兴趣的结果的因果路径，来解释生物现象。在这些叙述中，有些部分可能看起来很清楚，而有些部分可能看起来令人费解。正是在这些脆弱的关节处——推理因冲突的可能结果而变得具有挑战性的地方——我们经常构建数学模型来支持和扩展我们的叙述，或者拒绝和修改我们的叙述。因此，分析和计算模型都是在叙事的框架内构建和解释的。我们使用群体遗传学的案例研究来说明这些观点。这种科学理论化的观点有助于澄清理论争论的本质，这些争论往往源于数学所嵌入的叙述，而不是数学本身。最后，这种观点有助于在科学事业中为发展、修改和挑战叙述赋予适当的创造性权重。
