Does matter really matter?

computer simulations, experiments, and materiality

Wendy S. Parker

pp. 483-496

in: Roman Frigg, Stephan Hartmann, Cyrille Imbert (eds), Models and simulations, Synthese 169 (3), 2009.

Abstract

A number of recent discussions comparing computer simulation and traditional experimentation have focused on the significance of “materiality.” I challenge several claims emerging from this work and suggest that computer simulation studies are material experiments in a straightforward sense. After discussing some of the implications of this material status for the epistemology of computer simulation, I consider the extent to which materiality (in a particular sense) is important when it comes to making justified inferences about target systems on the basis of experimental results.