Grüne-Yanoff, Till (2007) The Explanatory Potential of Artificial Societies. [Preprint]

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Abstract

It is often claimed that artificial society simulations contribute to the explanation of social phenomena. At the hand of a particular example, this paper argues that artificial societies often cannot provide full explanations, because their models are not or cannot be validated. Instead, artificial societies may sometimes provide potential explanations. It is shown that these potential explanations, if they contribute to our understanding, considerably differ from the standard kind of potential causal explanations. Instead of possible causal histories, simulations offer possible functional analyses of the explanandum. The paper discusses how these two kinds of potential explanations differ, and how possible functional analyses can be appraised.

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Item Type:	Preprint
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID Grüne-Yanoff, Till
Keywords:	Simulation, Explanation, Agent-Based Models, Computational Social Science
Subjects:	General Issues > Models and Idealization General Issues > Explanation Specific Sciences > Complex Systems General Issues > History of Science Case Studies
Depositing User:	Till Gruene-Yanoff
Date Deposited:	24 Nov 2007
Last Modified:	07 Oct 2010 15:15
Item ID:	3669
Subjects:	General Issues > Models and Idealization General Issues > Explanation Specific Sciences > Complex Systems General Issues > History of Science Case Studies
Date:	October 2007
URI:	https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/3669

Available Versions of this Item

• Agent-Based Simulation, Generative Science, And Its Explanatory Claims. (deposited 24 Nov 2007)

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