An Agent-Based Model of Thomas Kuhn's The Structure of Scientific Revolutions

Authored by Langhe Rogier de

Date Published: 2018

DOI: 10.12759/hsr.43.2018.1.28-47

Sponsors: No sponsors listed

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Model Documentation: Other Narrative

Model Code URLs: Model code not found

Abstract

``Thomas Kuhn's `Die Struktur wissenschaftlicher Revolutionen'. Eine agentenbasierte Simulation{''} Kuhn's Structure of Scientific Revolutions is interpreted as the specification of an agent-based model. Kuhn described scientists as autonomous agents and an emergent pattern of evolving paradigms. The missing link in his account is then a mechanism by which this pattern self organizes from the interactions of autonomous scientists without centralized control. This paper exploits advances in agent-based modeling and stigmergy to fill the missing link in Kuhn's account. A complete agent-based model of Kuhn's Structure of Scientific Revolutions could lead to a better understanding of the contribution of the evolution of the social structure of science to its success.
Tags
Agent-based modeling Increasing Returns systems rationality Stigmergy Paradigms Revolutions Thomas kuhn