Pharmacokinetics: philosophy of modeling.

Generally speaking, there are two extremes of scientific personality types: sharpeners and levelers. Sharpeners, highly attuned to system differences and nuances, and always alert to distinctions, try hard to let nothing slip by them unnoticed. Levelers, on the other hand, attempt to submerge system differences, reveal uniform patterns, and condense disparate elements. This paper is one leveler's attempt to address the following philosophical questions confronting pharmacokinetic modelers: (1) What is the nature of reality? (2) What is a model? (3) Why do we model? (4) What are the different types of models? (5) How do we model? (6) What are the properties and characteristics of models? (7) How do we evaluate models? (8) What are some of the tricks and traps of modeling? And (9), what are some of the psychological characteristics of modelers?