Taming vagueness: the philosophy of network science.

In the last 20 years network science has become an independent scientific field. We argue that by building network models network scientists are able to tame the vagueness of propositions about complex systems and networks, that is, to make these propositions precise. This makes it possible to study...

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Published in:Synthese Vol. 200; no. 2; pp. 1 - 32
Main Authors: Elek, Gábor, Babarczy, Eszter
Format: Article
Published: Springer Nature Apr2022
Subjects:
Online Access:View this record in EBSCOhost
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        10.1007/s11229-022-03622-0
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        atl: Taming vagueness: the philosophy of network science.
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        au:
          Elek, Gábor
          Babarczy, Eszter
        affil:
          Lancaster University, England, UK
          The Alfred Renyi Institute, Budapest, Hungary
          Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design, Budapest, Hungary
      su:
        Vagueness (Philosophy)
        Philosophy of science
        Scientific models
        Logic
      sug:
        subj:
          Vagueness (Philosophy)
          Philosophy of science
          Scientific models
          Logic
      keyword:
        Complexity
        Modularity
        Network science
        Representation
        Vagueness
      ab: In the last 20 years network science has become an independent scientific field. We argue that by building network models network scientists are able to tame the vagueness of propositions about complex systems and networks, that is, to make these propositions precise. This makes it possible to study important vague properties such as modularity, near-decomposability, scale-freeness or being a small world. Using an epistemic model of network science, we systematically analyse the specific nature of network models and the logic behind the taming mechanism.
      pubtype: Academic Journal
      doctype: Article
      src: R
    language: English
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