Criticism and the Growth of Knowledge. Edited by I. Lakatos and A. Musgrave. Pp. viii, 282. £3·50, paperback £1. 1970. (Cambridge University Press.)

This paper addresses a set of methodological problems arising in the empirical validation of agent-based (AB) economics models and discusses how these are currently being tackled. These problems are generic for all those engaged in AB modelling, not just economists. The discussion is therefore of direct relevance to JASSS readers. The paper has two objectives. The first objective is the identification of a set of issues that are common to all modellers engaged in empirical validation. This gives rise to a novel taxonomy that captures the relevant dimensions along which AB modellers differ. The second objective is a focused discussion of three alternative methodological approaches being developed in AB economics — indirect calibration, the Werker-Brenner approach, and the history-friendly approach — and a set of (as yet) unresolved issues for empirical validation that require future research.

http://dimetic.dime-eu.org/dimetic_files/Lect%2010%20to%20Fagiolo%20-%20Windrum%20Fagiolo%20Moneta.pdf

Empirical Validation of Agent-Based Models: Alternatives and Prospects

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/pdf/a-complete-bibliography-of-publications-in-berichte-zur-3higqmw4vb.pdf

A Complete Bibliography of Publications in Berichte zur Wissenschaftsgeschichte (Reports on the History of Science)

Although there is universal consensus both in the science education literature and in the science standards documents to the effect that students should learn not only the content of science but also its nature, there is little agreement about what that nature is. This led many science educators to adopt what is sometimes called “the consensus view” about the nature of science (NOS), whose goal is to teach students only those characteristics of science on which there is wide consensus. This is an attractive view, but it has some shortcomings and weaknesses. In this article we present and defend an alternative approach based on the notion of family resemblance. We argue that the family resemblance approach is superior to the consensus view in several ways, which we discuss in some detail.

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A Family Resemblance Approach to the Nature of Science for Science Education.

The agent-structure problem is a much discussed issue in the field of international relations. In his comprehensive 2006 analysis of this problem, Colin Wight deconstructs the accounts of structure and agency embedded within differing IR theories and, on the basis of this analysis, explores the implications of ontology - the metaphysical study of existence and reality. Wight argues that there are many gaps in IR theory that can only be understood by focusing on the ontological differences that construct the theoretical landscape. By integrating the treatment of the agent-structure problem in IR theory with that in social theory, Wight makes a positive contribution to the problem as an issue of concern to the wider human sciences. At the most fundamental level politics is concerned with competing visions of how the world is and how it should be, thus politics is ontology.

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Agents, Structures and International Relations: Politics as Ontology

Incommensurability reference and theory comparison translation failure between theories in defence of untranslatability referential discontinuity against the idealist interpretation against constructivism.

The incommensurability thesis

Introduction H. Sankey, P. Hoyningen-Huene. Incommensurability, Meaning and Reference. Reference, (In)commensurability and Meanings: Some (Perhaps) Unanticipated Complexities R.N. Boyd. Changing Laws and Shifting Concepts: On the Nature and Impact of Incommensurability M. Carrier. Ramsification, Reference Fixing and Incommensurability F. Kroon, R. Nola. Realism and Incommensurability. Incommensurability and Reality H.I. Brown. Incommensurability and the Priority of Metaphysics M. Devitt. Incommensurability, Rationality and Relativism. Incommensurability and the Normative Foundations of Scientific Knowledge G. Doppelt. Reasons, Radical Change and Incommensurability in Science D. Shapere. Incommensurability, Multiculturalism and Science Education. Incommensurability, Rationality and Relativism: In Science, Culture and Science Education H. Siegel. Incommensurability and 'Multicultural Science' H. Lacey. Incommensurability, Cognition and Conceptual Change. Incommensurability and Conceptual Change During the Copernican Revolution P. Barker. Concept Formation and Commensurability N.J. Nersessian. Incommensurability Bibliography. Notes on Contributors. Index of Names.

Incommensurability and related matters

Since 1962 Kuhn's concept of incommensurability has undergone a process of transformation. His current account of incommensurability has little in common with his original account of it. Or...

Kuhn's Changing Concept of Incommensurability

Contents: Introduction Scientific realism The God's eye point of view Truth and entity realism Incommensurability and the language of science Induction and natural kinds Methodological pluralism, normative naturalism and the realist aim of science Realism, method and truth Why is it rational to believe scientific theories are true? Bibliography Index.

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Scientific realism and the rationality of science

This paper considers the relevance of the Duhem-Quine thesis in economics. In the introductory discussion which follows, the meaning of the thesis and a brief history of its development are detailed. The purpose of the paper is to discuss the effects of the thesis in four specific and diverse theories in economics, and to illustrate the dependence of testing the theories on a set of auxiliary hypotheses. A general taxonomy of auxiliary hypotheses is provided to demonstrate the confounding of auxiliary hypotheses with the testing of economic theory.

/pdf/underdetermination-in-economics-the-duhem-quine-thesis-1lsotaglxf.pdf

Howard Sankey

Papers

The incommensurability thesis

Incommensurability and related matters

Kuhn's Changing Concept of Incommensurability

Scientific realism and the rationality of science

Underdetermination in Economics. The Duhem-Quine Thesis