Modelling Value Change: An Exploratory Approach

Modelling Value Change: An Exploratory Approach

de Wildt, T.E. (TU Delft Ethics & Philosophy of Technology)
van de Poel, I.R. (TU Delft Ethics & Philosophy of Technology)

2024

Value and moral change have increasingly become topics of interest in the philosophical literature. Several theoretical accounts have been proposed. These are usually based on certain theoretical and conceptual assumptions. Their strengths and weaknesses are often difficult to determine and compare because they are based on limited empirical evidence. We propose agent-based modeling to build simulation models that can theoretically help us explore accounts of value change. We can investigate whether a simulation model based on a specific account of value change can reproduce relevant phenomena. To illustrate this approach, we build a model based on the pragmatist account of value change proposed by Van De Poel and Kudina (2022). We show that this model can reproduce four relevant phenomena, namely 1) the inevitability and stability of values, 2) societies differ in openness and resistance to change, 3) moral revolutions, and 4) lock-in. This makes this account promising, although more research is needed to see how well it can explain other relevant phenomena and compare its strengths and weaknesses to other accounts. On a more methodological level, our contribution suggests that simulation models might be useful to theoretically explore accounts of value change and make further progress in this area.

Value Change
Moral Change
Agent-Based Modelling
Exploratory Modelling

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:bf965b32-ed0b-4e8a-8bca-10cb860a883b

https://doi.org/10.18564/jasss.5199

1460-7425

Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation, 27 (1)

Institutional Repository

journal article

© 2024 T.E. de Wildt, I.R. van de Poel