Models of Concepts and Models That Are Conceptual
The term "conceptual model" is ambiguous. It could mean a model of concept or it could mean a model that is conceptual. A distinction can be made between what models are and what models are models of. With the exception of iconic models, such as a scale model of Winchester Cathedral, most models are concepts. But they are, mostly, intended to be models of real world states of affairs. The value of a model is usually directly proportional to how well it corresponds to a past, present, future, actual or potential state of affairs. A model of a concept is quite different because in order to be a good model it need not have this real world correspondence.
Models of concepts are usually built by analysts who are not primarily concerned about the truth or falsity of the concepts being modeled. For example, in management problem structuring, Conceptual Models of human activity systems are used in Soft systems methodology to explore the viewpoints of stakeholders in the client organization. In artificial intelligence conceptual models and conceptual graphs are used for building expert systems and knowledge-based systems, here the analysts are concerned to represent expert opinion on what is true not their own ideas on what is true.
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Famous quotes containing the words models, concepts and/or conceptual:
“Grandparents can be role models about areas that may not be significant to young children directly but that can teach them about patience and courage when we are ill, or handicapped by problems of aging. Our attitudes toward retirement, marriage, recreation, even our feelings about death and dying may make much more of an impression than we realize.”
—Eda Le Shan (20th century)
“Once one is caught up into the material world not one person in ten thousand finds the time to form literary taste, to examine the validity of philosophic concepts for himself, or to form what, for lack of a better phrase, I might call the wise and tragic sense of life.”
—F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940)
“The dominant metaphor of conceptual relativism, that of differing points of view, seems to betray an underlying paradox. Different points of view make sense, but only if there is a common co-ordinate system on which to plot them; yet the existence of a common system belies the claim of dramatic incomparability.”
—Donald Davidson (b. 1917)