Virtual Models and Simulations: A Different Kind of Science?

The personal computer has become the primary research tool in many scientific and engineering disciplines. The role of the computer has been extended to be an experimental and modelling tool both for convenience and sometimes necessity. In this paper some of the relationships between real models and...

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Publicado en:Techné: Research in Philosophy & Technology Vol. 11; no. 1; pp. 42 - 55
Autor principal: Krebs, Peter R.
Formato: Artículo
Publicado: Philosophy Documentation Center Fall2007
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Acceso en línea:Ver este registro en EBSCOhost
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        au: Krebs, Peter R.
        affil: School of History & Philosophy, University of New South Wales
      su:
        Computer simulation
        Virtual reality
        Computer software
        Computer systems
        Data structures
      sug:
        subj:
          Computer simulation
          Virtual reality
          Computer software
          Computer systems
          Data structures
      ab: The personal computer has become the primary research tool in many scientific and engineering disciplines. The role of the computer has been extended to be an experimental and modelling tool both for convenience and sometimes necessity. In this paper some of the relationships between real models and virtual models, i.e. models that exist only as programs and data structures, are explored. It is argued that the shift from experimenting with real objects to experimentation with computer models and simulations may also require a new approach for evaluating scientific theories derived from these models. Accepting the additional sets of assumptions that are associated with computer models and simulations requires 'leaps of faith', which we may not want to make in order to preserve scientific rigor. There are problems in providing acceptable arguments and explanations as to why a particular computer model or simulation should be judged scientifically sound, plausible, or even probable. These problems not only emerge from models that are particularly complex, but also in models that suffer from being too simplistic.
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    language: English
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