Concluding Thoughts

Abstract

The previous chapters advocate a new philosophical perspective on demography, the semantic or model-based view. This would replace logical empiricism, which sought theory through universal or near-universal generalizations – ‘empirical laws.’ In the model-based view, models, not laws, are the central element of science. And models are seen not as true or false, but simply as abstract representations of some portion of reality – judged worthwhile if they fit closely enough, in certain respects, to be useful for a specific scientific or practical aim.