Simulated Experiments: Methodology for a Virtual World

TLDR

Simulation sits between theory and experiment, with discussions often framing it as a numerical experiment while also recognizing its roots in scientific theorizing. The paper aims to reconcile these perspectives by examining the methodological and epistemological commonalities between simulation and experimentation, while acknowledging simulation’s theoretical ancestry. To achieve this, the authors apply recent philosophy‑of‑experiment insights to the construction of local models.

Abstract

This paper examines the relationship between simulation and experiment. Many discussions of simulation, and indeed the term “numerical experiments,” invoke a strong metaphor of experimentation. On the other hand, many simulations begin as attempts to apply scientific theories. This has lead many to characterize simulation as lying between theory and experiment. The aim of the paper is to try to reconcile these two points of view—to understand what methodological and epistemological features simulation has in common with experimentation, while at the same time keeping a keen eye on simulation's ancestry as a form of scientific theorizing. In so doing, it seeks to apply some of the insights of recent work on the philosophy of experiment to an aspect of theorizing that is of growing philosophical interest: the construction of local models.