Società artificiali. Il caso delle norme

This article is inspired by Joshua Epstein's generativist paradigm, according to which to possibility of explaining a phenomenon and of influencing its process of existence depend on the availability of instruments that can artificially reproduce it, or in other words simulate its «generation». «Agent based simulation » possesses the requirements that enable the development of a similar cognitive program. The essay describes this instrument's characteristics, from the modeling to the cellular automaton used in biology, of which the «agent based simulation» in an exemplary heir. The second part of the article focuses on applications of generative simulation, with reference to the interpretation of interdependant dynamics in complex situations as useful resources for sociological analysis of micro and macro phenomena.