On this model, then, the evolution of models of the experienceable world is a process of models adapting to each other in the contexts in which they function. Empirical science, for example, is not a matter of approximating the categories of Nature and their relations, quantitative and qualitative, because Nature has no categories independent of systems that categorise it. Science involves Nature selecting models of phenomena, these evolving as the context of model building changes — as a consequence of the evolving models and the technologies they engender.
So, there is no end to ‘the march of science’. Over time, models are expanded — elaborated, extended and enhanced — providing greater delicacy of description and functionality for those who use them. As each model changes, it potentially changes the context in which other models function, triggering continuous cascades of change through systemically related models. The rate of evolution varies, in part, with the degree of selection pressure brought about by changes in its environment. In as much as this process takes time, models are variably adapted to past contexts.[1]
The ability of any model to evolve[2] at given period of its history varies with its capacity to generate potentially useful variation, the “raw material” that is shaped by selection. For example, the evolution of particle physics is partially dependent on the concomitant evolution that provides the technological devices used to observe subatomic events.
Footnotes:
[1] It may also be that the increasing numbers of practitioners potentially increases the inertia of a discipline, ceteris paribus.
[2] Evolvability can be thought of as the potential of a lineage to exploit evolutionary time for adaptive purposes.