Modelling science as an adaptive and self-organising social system: Concepts, theories and modelling tools

Despite the progress made in the last few years using computer models for sociological purposes (e.g. Gilbert and Conte 1995; Klüver 1995; Gilbert and Doran 1994), most sociologists probably still associate the construction of formal models and their implementation as computer programs with the (natural) sciences and as methods which are therefore alien to the mainstream of sociology. This is especially the case with the sociology of science and the related fields of Science and Technology Studies (STS). Although Thagard (1989), for example, has analysed scientific theories with the use of recurrent interactive networks, there are few other examples.