Introduction: Computer Simulations in Social Epistemology

Introduction to Formal Epistemology

This document contains an extended outline of the course including a bibliography. The idea of this reader is to provide a bird’s eye view of the literature and to list the main examples, definitions and theorems we will use throughout the course. As a consequence, expository text will be kept to a minimum. The website for the course is staff.science.uva.nl/∼epacuit/formep esslli.html On this w...

Introduction to Bayesian Epistemology

1. Deriving Bayes' Theorem Bayes' theorem is a piece of mathematics. It is called a theorem because it is derivable from a simple definition in probability theory. As a piece of mathematics, it is not controversial. Bayesianism, on the other hand, is a controversial philosophical theory in epistemology. It proposes that the mathematics of probability theory can be put to work in explicating var...

On Specific Challenges for Modeling and the Epistemology of Models and Computer Simulations in the Social Sciences

Mathematical models are a well established tool in most natural sciences. Although models have been neglected by the philosophy of science for a long time, their epistemological status as a link between theory and reality is now fairly well understood. However, regarding the epistemological status of mathematical models in the social sciences, there still exists a considerable unclarity. In my ...

Why Social Epistemology Is Real Epistemology

A Social Constructionist Epistemology