Discussion: What, If Anything, Is “The Strategy of Model Building in Population Biology?” A Comment on Levins (1966) and Odenbaugh (2003)*

Abstract

In our 1993 paper, “A Critical Look,” Elliott Sober and I concluded that the famous claim about model formulation and constraints made by Richard Levins in his influential 1966 article on model building in population biology is neither true nor normative. Here, I comment upon the claim of Odenbaugh (2003) that the conclusions of “A Critical Look” are incorrect. My conclusions remain that Levins’ claim about the tradeoff between model properties (1) lacks logical coherence, (2) generates an arbitrary model classification, and (3) lacks normative utility. Accordingly, I view his claim as providing no useful insight into the nature of models and model building in population biology.