The explanatory potential of artificial societies

Abstract

Abstract It is often claimed that artificial society simulations contribute to the explanation of social phenomena. At the hand of\textbackslashna particular example, this paper argues that artificial societies often cannot provide full explanations, because their models\textbackslashnare not or cannot be validated. Despite that, many feel that such simulations somehow contribute to our understanding. This\textbackslashnpaper tries to clarify this intuition by investigating whether artificial societies provide potential explanations. It is\textbackslashnshown that these potential explanations, if they contribute to our understanding, considerably differ from potential causal\textbackslashnexplanations. Instead of possible causal histories, simulations offer possible functional analyses of the explanandum. The paper discusses how these two kinds explanatory strategies differ, and how potential functional explanations can be\textbackslashnappraised.