Heidelberg 2007 – scientific programme

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AKPhil: Arbeitskreis Philosophie der Physik

AKPhil 5: Structuralism and Realism

AKPhil 5.1: Talk

Thursday, March 8, 2007, 14:00–14:30, KIP SR 3.401

Two Kinds of Simulations -- A Structuralist Approach — •Claus Beisbart — Institut für Philosophie, Universität Dortmund, D--44221 Dortmund

Computer simulations are all the rage in present-day physics. They help to understand the large structure of the Universe, complex fluids or traffic flows. But what are simulations? And what is their role between theories, models and observations?

To answer these questions, I take the structuralist approach (advocated by Balzer, Moulines and Sneed, for instance). The basic idea is to model algorithms as theory elements. Links to other theory elements provide a way to understand how the outputs of simulations get their meaning and relate to theories and models.

I use two kinds of simulations to illustrate my approach. The first example is very straight-forward, whereas, in the second example, which is drawn from cosmology, the simulations come along with their own ontology. Drawing on my second example, I show how simulations change the way physics works.