The Sciences of the Artificial

During the 1950s and 1960s, an expanse of literature was published that demonstrated broad interest in treating design as a rigorous and systematic discipline in hopes of establishing design as a science. Primarily through the fields of operational research and Organisation & Methods, these academics purposed to make design compatible with the related disciplines of management science and operations management. This trend would bring about the "design methods movement" of the 1960s, serving as the backdrop under which Simon wrote the article "Architecture of Complexity" (1962), which would later become The Sciences of the Artificial (1969). In his work, Simon had the broader intention of unifying the social sciences. == Overview ==

The theme of the book is how ought artificial phenomena be categorized, discussing as to whether such phenomena belong within the domain of 'science'. Simon characterizes an artificial system as an interface that links two environments—inner and outer. Therefore, artificial systems are susceptible to change because they are contingent upon their environment, i.e. the circumstances in which they are in. Moreover, these environments exist in the realm of 'natural science', while the interface is the realm of 'artificial science'.Such fields also include those of cognitive psychology, linguistics, economics, management/administration, and education. As such, Simon explores the commonalities of artificial systems including economic systems, business firms, artificial intelligence, complex engineering projects, and social plans. The book ultimately provides an information-processing theory of humanity's thinking processes as an operational, empirically based alternative to behaviorism. ==Influence==

The book influenced Elinor Ostrom. ==References==