
Publication details
Publisher: Springer
Place: Berlin
Year: 2014
Pages: 471-478
Series: Studies in Applied Philosophy, Epistemology and Rational Ethics
ISBN (Hardback): 9783642374272
Full citation:
, "From informal thought experiments to agent-based models a progressive account of modeling in the social sciences", in: Model-based reasoning in science and technology, Berlin, Springer, 2014


From informal thought experiments to agent-based models a progressive account of modeling in the social sciences
pp. 471-478
in: Lorenzo Magnani (ed), Model-based reasoning in science and technology, Berlin, Springer, 2014Abstract
Thought experiments are widely employed in the social sciences, as many experiments are not affordable or even impossible to execute. Informal thought experiments, which are typical of classical economics, involve vagueness in the inference from their premises. On the other hand, mathematical models lack realism in their assumptions. Agent-based models are a particular kind of thought experiments, which are especially useful when our intuition is dealing with complex phenomena. We will argue that, contrary to mathematical models, agent-based models allow more realistic assumptions. On the other hand, unlike informal thought experiments, the conclusion of a simulation is the result of a strictly deductive procedure. Hence, agent-based models improve the realism of the assumptions of mathematical models, while avoiding the vagueness of informal thought experiments.
Publication details
Publisher: Springer
Place: Berlin
Year: 2014
Pages: 471-478
Series: Studies in Applied Philosophy, Epistemology and Rational Ethics
ISBN (Hardback): 9783642374272
Full citation:
, "From informal thought experiments to agent-based models a progressive account of modeling in the social sciences", in: Model-based reasoning in science and technology, Berlin, Springer, 2014