Psychologie, épistémologie et théorie de la représentation : fondation analogique et données séminales

Our scientific systems mirror our mental constraints: the limits of our mental representations lead us to a better reconstitution of the world by some scientific theories. Thus, the ways of representation by a mental system provide a fruitful paradigm for epistemology. To tackle this point, we start from an experiment of psychology on the impact of seed data on the representation of geography. We try to generalize the concept of seed data in the framework of the theory of analogical foundation of representations. A parallel is outlined between: 1) the integration of a piece of information into a mental system; 2) the integration of data into a scientific system. We bring up some consequences about the fonction of experimentation.