The Dissatisfaction of Traditional Philosophy of Science with the Concept of Representation. Reply to Sergio Martínez

Abstract

In this reply to Martínez's discussion of our paper "Una teoría combinatoria de las representaciones científicas" (UTC) we argue that his criticism is informed by the uncritical acceptance of some traditional dichotomies and a rather distorted interpretation of the history of philosophy. We point out that UTC should not be characterized as a formalist approach. The distinction between "formalist" and "historicist" accounts in philosophy of science is obsolete. Hence, formal and informal means are useful for the explication of the concept of representation to be considered as a key concept of UTC. Moreover, we argue that the arguments from history of philosophy Martínez launches against our account are ill-founded.