Javier Echeverría Ezponda, Representar e Intervenir en Mundos Virtuales: simulaciones, ficciones y controversias.

Abstract

espanolLas simulaciones computacionales constituyen el principal campo de pruebas virtual en multiples ciencias, una practica distintiva con respecto al Representar e Intervenir que Hacking proponia en 1983. Estas no solamente constituyen una herramienta de calculo, sino que tambien suponen una metodologia de investigacion en si misma. A traves de ellas se pueden recrear tecnomundos virtuales que sustituyen como objeto de estudio a sistemas naturales experimentalmente inaccesibles, como el cambio climatico o fenomenos astrofisicos. Este articulo analiza la posibilidad de considerar este tipo de simulaciones como objetos de controversia superpuestos al debate del realismo cientifico. Para ello, se parte de la caracterizacion de Hacking, adoptando una perspectiva praxeologica y focalizandose en aquellas con potencial explicativo causal. Finalmente, se analiza la aplicabilidad de los argumentos de la intervencion y la correspondencia multiple de representaciones, analizando las diferencias y analogias entre la practica de observar con microscopios y la practica de simular con tecnologia computacional. EnglishComputer simulations are currently the main virtual testing field within several scientific disciplines. It's a distinctive practice with respect to the Representing and Intervening proposed by Hacking in 1983. For, a computer simulation isn't solely a calculation tool; it also acts as a research methodology in itself. Through them, virtual technoworlds and their objects of study can be recreated—thereby granting access to experimentally inaccessible natural systems (i.e., climate change or astrophysical phenomena). This article analyzes the tenability of considering these simulations as objects of dispute, superimposed on the debate of scientific realism. To this end, we start with the characterization of Hacking by adopting a praxeological perspective, and then focusing on simulations with causal explanatory potential. Following this, the applicability of the arguments of intervention, as well as the multiple correspondence of representations, are evaluated. From this data, the article concludes with an analysis of the analogies and differences between the practice of observing by means of a microscope and simulating by means of computational technology.