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MODELS AND SIMULATIONS
Two-day conference in Paris, 12-13 June 2006
http://www.lse.ac.uk/collections/CPNSS/events/Conferences/simulations.htm
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KEYNOTE SPEAKERS: Robert Batterman (Western Ontario) and Paul Humphreys (University of Virginia)
ORGANISERS: Roman Frigg (LSE), Stephan Hartmann (LSE), and Cyrille Imbert (IHPST/Paris I)
PROGRAMME COMMITTEE: Robert Batterman (Western Ontario), Jacques Dubucs (IHPST/CNRS), Roman Frigg (LSE), Stephan Hartmann (LSE), Paul Humphreys (University of Virginia), Cyrille Imbert (IHPST/Paris I), and Eric Winsberg (University of South Florida)
PUBLICATION: Revised versions of selected papers will be published in a special issue of Synthese. The deadline for submission of the final version of the paper is 1 September 2006.
The conference is generously supported by the CNRS and IHPST, Paris.
The conference language is English.
OUTLINE AND RESEARCH QUESTIONS
Computer simulations play a crucial role in many sciences, but they have not yet received the attention they deserve from philosophers of science. This conference attempts to systematically explore methodological issues in connection with computer simulations and the implications of these for traditional questions in the philosophy of science. Special emphasis is put on the relation between models and simulations as well as on the role of computers in the practice of science.
The papers presented at the conference will address, among others, the following questions:
1. What difference does the essentially dynamic nature of simulations make to modeling, particularly in their representational abilities?
2. Is there a difference between simulations that have an explicit model or theory behind them and those that do not?
3. When there is no model, what form does the representational connection between the simulation and the world take?
4. Can any sense be made of claims that the world itself is carrying out computations and simulating itself?
5. What role does intentionality play in simulations or such apparently automatic representational processes as genetic algorithms?
6. Are there principles that one can use to decide whether a simulation is to be interpreted realistically or only instrumentally?
7. At what level (e.g. the machine code, the algorithmic, the scientific language) does a simulation represent a system?
8. It is well-known hat models enter into different relationships such as isomorphism, embedding, or being a submodel of. Are there analogous relations between simulations?
9. What would qualify as an equivalence relation between simulations?
10. What is the relation between simulations used as an experimental tool and real experiments?
11. How does the methodology of simulations compare with experimentation?
12. How, if at all, do models and simulations explain?
13. What are the implications of the growing use of simulations in science for our understanding of science?
14. What are the implications of the repeated use of the same models and simulations within different fields of science?
15. How reliable are the results of simulations, and how is the reliability of a simulation determined?
16. What role does mathematics play in simulations?
17. Is there a difference between the use of simulations across different fields such as physics, biology, and the social sciences?
18. Is there a difference between the use of simulations in fundamental science and in applied science?
SUBMISSION OF PAPERS
Please send extended abstracts of 1000 words to [log in to unmask] by 15 March 2006. Decisions will be made by 1 April. A few travel bursaries for graduate students are available; if you wish to be considered please submit a short (tentative) travel budget and a CV together with your paper. There will also be a Best Graduate Paper Award of 500 EUROS. For details, visit the conference website.
Deadline for submissions: 15 March 2006
Although the conference has a philosophical orientation, contributions by historians and sociologists of science are welcome too. We particularly encourage working scientists to submit papers.
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Stephan Hartmann
http://www.stephanhartmann.org
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