You may have to Search all our reviewed books and magazines, click the sign up button below to create a free account.
The Sciences of the Artificialreveals the design of an intellectual structure aimed at accommodating those empirical phenomena that are "artificial" rather than "natural." The goal is to show how empirical sciences of artificial systems are possible, even in the face of the contingent and teleological character of the phenomena, their attributes of choice and purpose. Developing in some detail two specific examples—human psychology and engineering design—Professor Simon describes the shape of these sciences as they are emerging from developments of the past 25 years. "Artificial" is used here in a very specific sense: to denote systems that have a given form and behavior only because the...
Essays that pay tribute to the wide-ranging influence of the late Herbert Simon, by friends and colleagues. Herbert Simon (1916-2001), in the course of a long and distinguished career in the social and behavioral sciences, made lasting contributions to many disciplines, including economics, psychology, computer science, and artificial intelligence. In 1978 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in economics for his research into the decision-making process within economic organizations. His well-known book The Sciences of the Artificial addresses the implications of the decision-making and problem-solving processes for the social sciences. This book (the title is a variation on the title of Simon's ...
Herbert Simon (1916–2001) was a polymathic intellectual. A founding figure of the field of artificial intelligence, he gained renown in the 1950s (with Allen Newell) as the creator of the first 'thinking machine'. Simon was also a central figure during the cognitive revolution in psychology in the 1960s as scientists began to use computer models to study the thought processes of humans. His desire to understand decision-making led him to develop his economic theory of 'bounded rationality' (he also coined the term 'satisficing') and in 1978 he won the Nobel Prize in economics for his pioneering research. With a new introduction and an extensive bibliography, this three-volume Routledge Major Work is an invaluable research resource.
Herbert Simon's classic work on artificial intelligence in the expanded and updated third edition from 1996, with a new introduction by John E. Laird. Herbert Simon's classic and influential The Sciences of the Artificial declares definitively that there can be a science not only of natural phenomena but also of what is artificial. Exploring the commonalities of artificial systems, including economic systems, the business firm, artificial intelligence, complex engineering projects, and social plans, Simon argues that designed systems are a valid field of study, and he proposes a science of design. For this third edition, originally published in 1996, Simon added new material that takes into ...
In this informed and discerning study, Crowther-Heyck explores Simon's contributions to science and their influences on modern life and thought. For historians of science, social science, technology, and twentieth-century American intellectual and cultural history, this account of Herbert Simon's life and work provides a rich and valuable perspective. Rarely does the world see as versatile a figure as Herbert Simon. He was a Nobel laureate in economics; an accomplished political scientist; winner of a lifetime achievement award from the American Psychological Association; and founder of the department of computer science at Carnegie Mellon University. In all his work in all these fields, he ...
What can reason (or more broadly, thinking) do for us and what can't it do? This is the question examined by Herbert A. Simon, who received the 1978 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences "for his pioneering work on decision-making processes in economic organizations." The ability to apply reason to the choice of actions is supposed to be one of the defining characteristics of our species. In the first two chapters, the author explores the nature and limits of human reason, comparing and evaluating the major theoretical frameworks that have been erected to explain reasoning processes. He also discusses the interaction of thinking and emotion in the choice of our actions. In the third and final chapter, the author applies the theory of bounded rationality to social institutions and human behavior, and points out the problems created by limited attention span human inability to deal with more than one difficult problem at a time. He concludes that we must recognize the limitations on our capabilities for rational choice and pursue goals that, in their tentativeness and flexibility, are compatible with those limits.
Honoring the life and work of Herbert Simon, this illuminating Companion provides an in-depth survey of one of the most prolific social scientists of our age. Mirroring the breadth of Simon’s studies, chapters analyze his contributions to artificial intelligence, economics, entrepreneurship, management, psychology and other fields.
Offering alternative models based on such concepts as satisficing(acceptance of viable choices that may not be the undiscoverableoptimum) and bounded rationality (the limited extent to which rationalcalculation can direct human behavior), Simon shows concretely whymore empirical research based on experiments and direct observation, rather than just statistical analysis of economic aggregates, isneeded.
Nobel Prize-winner Herbert Simon commemorates the fiftieth anniversary of his classic Administrative Behavior by updating the original work with commentaries examining new facets of the topic.
In this candid and witty autobiography, Nobel laureate Herbert A. Simon looks at his distinguished and varied career, continually asking himself whether (and how) what he learned as a scientist helps to explain other aspects of his life. A brilliant polymath in an age of increasing specialization, Simon is one of those rare scholars whose work defines fields of inquiry. Crossing disciplinary lines in half a dozen fields, Simon's story encompasses an explosion in the information sciences, the transformation of psychology by the information-processing paradigm, and the use of computer simulation for modeling the behavior of highly complex systems. Simon's theory of bounded rationality led to a...