Tools or Toys?
|
| Table of Contents |
Tools or Toys?
On Specific Challenges for Modeling and the Epistemology of Models
and Computer Simulations in the Social Sciences
Author: Eckhart Arnold
University of Stuttgart
Simulation Technology Cluster
Date: July 12th 2010
Mathematical models are a well established tool in most natural sciences. Although models have been neglected by the philosophy of science for a long time, their epistemological status as a link between theory and reality is now fairly well understood. However, regarding the epistemological status of mathematical models in the social sciences, there still exists a considerable unclarity.
In my paper I argue that this results from specific challenges that mathematical models and especially computer simulations face in the social sciences. The most important difference between the social sciences and the natural sciences with respect to modeling is that in the social sciences powerful and well confirmed background theories (like Newtonian mechanics, quantum mechanics or the theory of relativity in physics) do not exist. Therefore, an epistemology of models that is formed on the role model of physics may not be appropriate for the social sciences. I discuss the challenges that modeling faces in the social sciences and point out their epistemological consequences. The most important consequences are that greater emphasis must be placed on empirical validation than on theoretical validation and that the relevance of purely theoretical simulations is strongly limited.
Eckhart Arnold: Tools for Evaluating the Consequences of Prior Knowledge, but no Experiments. On the Role of Computer Simulations in Science, on: Homepage Eckhart Arnold, 2013, www.eckhartarnold.de
|
Printable PDF version of the document