Abstract
Abstract Computer models and simulations have provided enormous benefits to researchers in the natural and social sciences, as well as many areas of philosophy. However, to date, there has been little attempt to use computer models in the development and evaluation of metaphysical theories. This is a shame, as there are good reasons for believing that metaphysics could benefit just as much from this practice as other disciplines. In this paper I assess the possibilities and limitations of using computer models in metaphysics. I outline the way in which different kinds of model could be useful for different areas of metaphysics, and I illustrate in more detail how agent-based models specifically could be used to model two well-known theories of laws: David Lewis’s Best System Account and David Armstrong's Nomic Necessitation view. Some logically possible processes cannot be simulated on a standard computing device. I finish by assessing how much of a threat this is to the prospect of metaphysical modeling in general.
Highlights
Philosophers have been aware of the importance of models in the development and evaluation of scientific theories for some time
I start in section 2 by looking more generally at the process of how computer models and simulations are created from scientific theories and what analogous methods can be followed to produce models from metaphysical theories
The question is whether or not the behavior deviates in a way that is explained by the limits of the computing process itself or whether it is some problem in the design of the program or the underlying theory which inspired it. Can these two strands be used in the evaluation of models created from metaphysical theories? I will argue that they can, and explain some of the ways in which metaphysical verification and validation is likely to differ from computer modeling in the natural and social sciences
Summary
Philosophers have been aware of the importance of models in the development and evaluation of scientific theories for some time. The output of the data that is processed by a computer can be displayed using different visual media Often this is in graphical form, but other more "realistic" 3D representations can be provided with a desktop monitor— and increasingly—by the use of a virtual reality headset. Many of the computer modeling techniques used so far in philosophy have tended to be applied to social phenomena, such as group agency and rationality This leaves many corners of philosophy unexplored. This raises the question: can computer simulations be utilized elsewhere in philosophy in order to help develop and evaluate theories? I start in section 2 by looking more generally at the process of how computer models and simulations are created from scientific theories and what analogous methods can be followed to produce models from metaphysical theories.
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