Thought Experiments and Simulation Experiments

Abstract

Thought experiments and simulation experiments are similar in that both make use of iterations. This chapter reviews positions in the literature that are concerned with the relationship between these types of experiment. It undertakes to combine the various insights about similarities and dissimilarities between the two types of experiment. The chapter considers the common ancestral line of thought experiments and simulation experiments, and considers what this says about scientific rationality. It discusses a number of typical examples with increasing degrees of complication that illustrates how simulation experiments deal with opacity. The first example is the well-known model for urban social segregation introduced by economist Thomas Schelling. The next example, the Ising-model of physics, predates the computer and its architecture which served as the blueprint for Schelling's model. The third example is iconic of complexity theory, as it connects to computational models. The fourth and final example comes from the interface of computational chemistry and computational physics.

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