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 2
Introduction......Page 9
Epistemological and Methodological Issues......Page 11
Generative Explanation......Page 12
Empirical Foundations and Validation of Simulation Models......Page 13
Emergence......Page 14
Future Prospects......Page 15
Summary of the Book......Page 16
References......Page 18
Introduction......Page 20
The Methodological Dispute (Methodenstreit) in Continental Political Economy......Page 21
The Nomothetic and Ideographic Worlds in Neo-Kantianism......Page 23
Max Weber’s Foundations for the Social Sciences......Page 24
Epistemic Aims and Interests – A Continuum......Page 26
Nomothetic and Ideographic in Social Simulation......Page 28
Evaluating Simulation Studies......Page 31
References......Page 32
Introduction......Page 37
Organization of the Paper......Page 38
Generation and Causal Explanation......Page 39
Generate and Reproduce......Page 41
ABGSS Redefined......Page 42
Segregation and Violence......Page 43
Top-Down Theory......Page 45
Multiple Realizability......Page 46
Between Reductionism and Multiple Realizations......Page 47
Weak Thesis and Social Properties......Page 48
Dynamic Agents and Perpetual Novelty......Page 50
Summary and Concluding Remarks......Page 53
References......Page 54
Introduction......Page 56
The Mapping Function......Page 58
Prediction......Page 59
Validation and Verification......Page 60
Exploring the Model Space......Page 61
Deffuant-Edmonds Controversy......Page 62
Critique and Response in the DGM Framework......Page 63
Opinions as Numbers......Page 64
References......Page 66
Introduction......Page 68
Emergence and Part-Whole Reductionism......Page 69
Mathematics, Computation and Emergence......Page 70
Simulation and Emergence......Page 72
Ontological-Material and Mathematical-Formal Causality......Page 73
Simulation and Mental States......Page 74
References......Page 75
Introduction: The Puzzle of Emergence......Page 77
Emergence in Sociology......Page 80
Epistemology of Emergence......Page 82
Concepts of Emergence......Page 84
Examples......Page 88
Emergence in Artificial Societies......Page 90
Conclusion and Perspectives......Page 92
References......Page 93
Introduction......Page 97
Commutative Reconstruction......Page 98
Alleging an Independent Higher Level......Page 100
Levels as Observations......Page 102
Questioning Level Design......Page 103
References......Page 105
Introduction......Page 107
Narrative Scenarios and Historical Social Sciences......Page 108
Agent-Based Simulations, Narrative Scenarios, and Mediating Formalisms......Page 112
From Narrative Scenarios to Simulations…and Back......Page 119
Conclusions......Page 121
References......Page 122
Introduction: On the Reasons to Address Terminology......Page 125
On the Meaning of Verification, Validation and Confirmation of Models in a Broad Sense......Page 127
On Four More Examples of Terminological Dilemmas in Social Science Simulation......Page 130
On the Relation of Verification and Validation to the Simulation Development Process......Page 132
References......Page 136
Introduction......Page 138
Simulation and Solution......Page 139
Replication......Page 140
Describing the Problem......Page 141
Testing the Outcomes......Page 143
Comparing Model Outcomes......Page 144
Simple Agents, Simple Rules......Page 146
References......Page 147
Methodological Preliminaries......Page 149
System Dynamics and Agent-Based Modeling$^5$......Page 153
Structural Case-Study......Page 155
Beyond Fallacy......Page 158
References......Page 159
Introduction: Model Analysis......Page 161
Production Systems......Page 162
Two Examples of Production Systems......Page 163
Analysis Algorithms......Page 165
Abstraction of a PS Model......Page 166
The Iruba Model: A Full Scale Example......Page 169
Initial Abstraction Results from the Iruba Model......Page 170
Agents in a PS Model......Page 171
Discussion and Conclusions......Page 173
References......Page 174
Appendix......Page 175
Introduction......Page 177
A Picture of Noise in Electrical Engineering......Page 178
Noise as Unwanted Interference......Page 181
Noise as Unmodelled Residual......Page 182
Noise and Randomness......Page 183
Noise and Context......Page 186
Noise and the “Un-Excluded Middle” between Randomness and Determinism......Page 187
References......Page 189
back-matter......Page 191
