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Computer Simulation: The Cooperation between Experimenting and Modeling

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2022

Johannes Lenhard
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Abstract

The goal of the present article is to contribute to the epistemology and methodology of computer simulations. The central thesis is that the process of simulation modeling takes the form of an explorative cooperation between experimenting and modeling. This characteristic mode of modeling turns simulations into autonomous mediators in a specific way; namely, it makes it possible for the phenomena and the data to exert a direct influence on the model. The argumentation will be illustrated by a case study of the general circulation models of meteorology, the major simulation models in climate research.

Type
Research Article
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 74 , Issue 2 , April 2007 , pp. 176 - 194
Copyright
Copyright © The Philosophy of Science Association

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Footnotes

‡

I wish to thank Martin Carrier and Günter Küppers for fruitful discussions of former versions of the manuscript and the anonymous referees of Philosophy of Science for their useful suggestions.

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