This book constitutes the revised versions of the invited and selected papers from the Second Epistemological Perspectives on Simulation Workshop, EPOS 2006, which was held in Brescia, Italy, during October 5-6, 2006.
The 11 papers presented together with 2 invited papers were carefully reviewed and selected from 35 submissions. The topics addressed were epistemological and methodological contents, such as the relevance of empirical foundations for agent-based simulations, the role of theory, the concepts and meaning of emergence, the trade-off between simplification and complexification of models.
Author(s): Flaminio Squazzoni
Series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science - Lecture Notes Artificial Intelligence
Publisher: Springer
Year: 2009
Language: English
Pages: 183
front-matter.pdf......Page 1
Introduction......Page 8
Epistemological and Methodological Issues......Page 10
Generative Explanation......Page 11
Empirical Foundations and Validation of Simulation Models......Page 12
Emergence......Page 13
Future Prospects......Page 14
Summary of the Book......Page 15
References......Page 17
Introduction......Page 19
The Methodological Dispute (Methodenstreit) in Continental Political Economy......Page 20
The Nomothetic and Ideographic Worlds in Neo-Kantianism......Page 22
Max Weber’s Foundations for the Social Sciences......Page 23
Epistemic Aims and Interests – A Continuum......Page 25
Nomothetic and Ideographic in Social Simulation......Page 27
Evaluating Simulation Studies......Page 30
References......Page 31
Introduction......Page 36
Organization of the Paper......Page 37
Generation and Causal Explanation......Page 38
Generate and Reproduce......Page 40
ABGSS Redefined......Page 41
Segregation and Violence......Page 42
Top-Down Theory......Page 44
Multiple Realizability......Page 45
Between Reductionism and Multiple Realizations......Page 46
Weak Thesis and Social Properties......Page 47
Dynamic Agents and Perpetual Novelty......Page 49
Summary and Concluding Remarks......Page 52
References......Page 53
Introduction......Page 55
The Mapping Function......Page 57
Prediction......Page 58
Validation and Verification......Page 59
Exploring the Model Space......Page 60
Deffuant-Edmonds Controversy......Page 61
Critique and Response in the DGM Framework......Page 62
Opinions as Numbers......Page 63
References......Page 65
Introduction......Page 67
Emergence and Part-Whole Reductionism......Page 68
Mathematics, Computation and Emergence......Page 69
Simulation and Emergence......Page 71
Ontological-Material and Mathematical-Formal Causality......Page 72
Simulation and Mental States......Page 73
References......Page 74
Introduction: The Puzzle of Emergence......Page 76
Emergence in Sociology......Page 79
Epistemology of Emergence......Page 81
Concepts of Emergence......Page 83
Examples......Page 87
Emergence in Artificial Societies......Page 89
Conclusion and Perspectives......Page 91
References......Page 92
Introduction......Page 96
Commutative Reconstruction......Page 97
Alleging an Independent Higher Level......Page 99
Levels as Observations......Page 101
Questioning Level Design......Page 102
References......Page 104
Introduction......Page 106
Narrative Scenarios and Historical Social Sciences......Page 107
Agent-Based Simulations, Narrative Scenarios, and Mediating Formalisms......Page 111
From Narrative Scenarios to Simulations…and Back......Page 118
Conclusions......Page 120
References......Page 121
Introduction: On the Reasons to Address Terminology......Page 124
On the Meaning of Verification, Validation and Confirmation of Models in a Broad Sense......Page 126
On Four More Examples of Terminological Dilemmas in Social Science Simulation......Page 129
On the Relation of Verification and Validation to the Simulation Development Process......Page 131
References......Page 135
Introduction......Page 137
Simulation and Solution......Page 138
Replication......Page 139
Describing the Problem......Page 140
Testing the Outcomes......Page 142
Comparing Model Outcomes......Page 143
Simple Agents, Simple Rules......Page 145
References......Page 146
Methodological Preliminaries......Page 148
System Dynamics and Agent-Based Modeling$^5$......Page 152
Structural Case-Study......Page 154
Beyond Fallacy......Page 157
References......Page 158
Introduction: Model Analysis......Page 160
Production Systems......Page 161
Two Examples of Production Systems......Page 162
Analysis Algorithms......Page 164
Abstraction of a PS Model......Page 165
The Iruba Model: A Full Scale Example......Page 168
Initial Abstraction Results from the Iruba Model......Page 169
Agents in a PS Model......Page 170
Discussion and Conclusions......Page 172
References......Page 173
Appendix......Page 174
Introduction......Page 176
A Picture of Noise in Electrical Engineering......Page 177
Noise as Unwanted Interference......Page 180
Noise as Unmodelled Residual......Page 181
Noise and Randomness......Page 182
Noise and Context......Page 185
Noise and the “Un-Excluded Middle” between Randomness and Determinism......Page 186
References......Page 188
back-matter......Page 190
