Over the last decade several computational models, and several types of model, have been
developed to simulate the response of river systems to environmental change over time …

Computer simulation has become an important means for obtaining knowledge about
nature. The practice of scientific simulation and the frequent use of uncertain simulation …

Skeptics have cast doubt on the idea that scientific theories give us a true picture of an
objective world. Lawrence Sklar examines three kinds of skeptical arguments about …

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses a number of metaphysical and epistemological
issues that are raised by the investigation and behavior of complex systems. Before treating …

Models and theories are of central importance in science, and scientists spend substantial
amounts of time building, testing, comparing and revising models and theories. It is therefore …

The author attempts to show that scientific realism is compatible with the presence of
idealization in the sciences. His main contention is that idealized theories can be treated as …

This dissertation offers an integrated, systematic account of the qualitative, symmetrical
patterns that are shared by all thought experimental activities, which include the wide range …

Chaos-related obstructions to predictability have been used to challenge accounts of theory
validation based on the agreement between theoretical predictions and experimental data …

The dissertation examines two putative explanations from statistical mechanics with the aim
of understanding the nature and role of idealizations in those accounts, namely, the Yang …

In his recent book, Explaining Chaos, Peter Smith presents a new problem in the
foundations of chaos theory. Specifically, he argues that the standard ways of justifying …