Narrow Results

This paper presents the papers published in a special issue devoted to the modeling of behavioral social systems. Some perspective ideas on possible objectives of future research are extracted from the contents of this issue and brought to the reader’s attention. The final ambitious aim is the development of a mathematical theory for complex living systems.

Some critical issues about the relative portability of models and solutions across disciplinary barriers are discussed. The risks linked to the use of models and theories coming from different disciplines are evidentiated with a particular emphasis on biology. A metaphorical use of conceptual tools coming from other fields is suggested, together with the unescapable need to judge about the relative merits of a model on the basis of the amount of facts relative to the particular domain of application it explains.

Some examples of metaphorical modeling coming from biochemistry and psychobiology are briefly discussed in order to clarify the above positions.