Measuring the Unmeasurable. Trust, validation, and the social organization of simulation modeling

计算机仿真已成为科学和工程领域的标准工具。仿真模型有助于将理论融入具体的应用环境中。这些模型以其可调节性和可容纳大量数据而闻名。最有趣的情况是，模拟不仅重现已知的数据或现象，而且还深入到经验上未知的、无法获得比较数据的情况。甚至在许多情况下，无法获得实验证据，但可以使用模型进行预测。然后，模拟被用于“测量不可测量的东西”。从这个观察开始，主要的研究问题是如何验证仿真模型，以及如何创建、维护和证明对它们的信任。该项目在经验（关于实际实践）和规范（关于辩护）意义上解决了这些问题。它由三个相互关联的维度构成：认识论、方法论和机构组织。这个项目离开了传统的道路，因为它检查了工程科学中的案例，其中模型必须在给定（而不是理想化）的环境中执行，因为它将哲学研究嵌入到科学和工程中。

Computer simulation has become a standard instrument in science and engineering. Simulation models help to fit theories into concrete contexts of application. These models are famous for their adjustability and can accommodate large amounts of data. The most interesting cases are those in which simulations do not merely reproduce known data or phenomena but advance into the empirically unknown where data for comparison are not available. There are even many cases in which experimental evidence cannot be obtained, but models can be used for predictions. Then, simulation is used for “measuring the unmeasurable.” Starting from this observation, the main research questions are how simulation models are validated and how trust in them is created, maintained, and justified. The project addresses these questions in an empirical (about actual practices) and a normative sense (about justification). It is structured by three interconnected dimensions: epistemology, methodology, and institutional organization. The project leaves beaten pathways because it examines cases from the engineering sciences where models have to perform in given (not idealized) contexts and because it embeds philosophical research in science and engineering.