Synthese 182 (1):117-129 (2011)
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Abstract |
This paper draws attention to an increasingly common method of using computer simulations to establish evidential standards in physics. By simulating an actual detection procedure on a computer, physicists produce patterns of data (‘signatures’) that are expected to be observed if a sought-after phenomenon is present. Claims to detect the phenomenon are evaluated by comparing such simulated signatures with actual data. Here I provide a justification for this practice by showing how computer simulations establish the reliability of detection procedures. I argue that this use of computer simulation undermines two fundamental tenets of the Bogen–Woodward account of evidential reasoning. Contrary to Bogen and Woodward’s view, computer-simulated signatures rely on ‘downward’ inferences from phenomena to data. Furthermore, these simulations establish the reliability of experimental setups without physically interacting with the apparatus. I illustrate my claims with a study of the recent detection of the superfluid-to-Mott-insulator phase transition in ultracold atomic gases
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Keywords | computer simulation experiment physics evidence data phenomena |
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DOI | 10.1007/s11229-009-9612-y |
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References found in this work BETA
Image and Logic: A Material Culture of Microphysics.Peter Galison (ed.) - 1997 - University of Chicago Press: Chicago.
Extending Ourselves: Computational Science, Empiricism, and Scientific Method.Paul Humphreys - 2004 - Oxford University Press.
Does Matter Really Matter? Computer Simulations, Experiments, and Materiality.Wendy S. Parker - 2009 - Synthese 169 (3):483-496.
View all 10 references / Add more references
Citations of this work BETA
Why Knowledge is the Property of a Community and Possibly None of its Members.Boaz Miller - 2015 - Philosophical Quarterly 65 (260):417-441.
Calibration: Modelling the Measurement Process.Eran Tal - 2017 - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 65:33-45.
What is a Computer Simulation? A Review of a Passionate Debate.Nicole Saam - 2017 - Journal for General Philosophy of Science / Zeitschrift für Allgemeine Wissenschaftstheorie 48 (2):293-309.
A Minimalist Epistemology for Agent-Based Simulations in the Artificial Sciences.Giuseppe Primiero - 2019 - Minds and Machines 29 (1):127-148.
View all 6 citations / Add more citations
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