AROUND THE EMPIRICAL AND INTENTIONAL REFERENCES OF AGENT-BASED SIMULATION IN THE SOCIAL SCIENCES

Nuno David, Helder Coelho

2006

Abstract

The difficulties in constructing and analyzing simulations of social theory and phenomena, even the most simplified, have been underlined in the literature. The experimental reference of simulation remains ambiguous, insofar as the logic of its method turns computer programs into something more than a tool in the social sciences, defining them as the experimental subject itself. The goal of this paper is to construct a methodological perspective that is able to conciliate the formal and empirical logic of program verification in computer science, with the interpretative and multiparadigmatic logic of the social sciences. This is a condensed and revised version of David et al. (2006). We demonstrate that the method of simulation implies at least two distinct types of program verifications, which we call empirical and intentional verification. Furthermore, we clarify the experimental reference of simulation by demonstrating that the process of intentional verification is contingent upon both the behaviors of the programs and the observed social phenomena.

Download


Paper Citation


in Harvard Style

David N. and Coelho H. (2006). AROUND THE EMPIRICAL AND INTENTIONAL REFERENCES OF AGENT-BASED SIMULATION IN THE SOCIAL SCIENCES . In Proceedings of the Eighth International Conference on Enterprise Information Systems - Volume 2: ICEIS, ISBN 978-972-8865-42-9, pages 31-38. DOI: 10.5220/0002463800310038

in Bibtex Style

@conference{iceis06,
author={Nuno David and Helder Coelho},
title={AROUND THE EMPIRICAL AND INTENTIONAL REFERENCES OF AGENT-BASED SIMULATION IN THE SOCIAL SCIENCES},
booktitle={Proceedings of the Eighth International Conference on Enterprise Information Systems - Volume 2: ICEIS,},
year={2006},
pages={31-38},
publisher={SciTePress},
organization={INSTICC},
doi={10.5220/0002463800310038},
isbn={978-972-8865-42-9},
}


in EndNote Style

TY - CONF
JO - Proceedings of the Eighth International Conference on Enterprise Information Systems - Volume 2: ICEIS,
TI - AROUND THE EMPIRICAL AND INTENTIONAL REFERENCES OF AGENT-BASED SIMULATION IN THE SOCIAL SCIENCES
SN - 978-972-8865-42-9
AU - David N.
AU - Coelho H.
PY - 2006
SP - 31
EP - 38
DO - 10.5220/0002463800310038