Rarely does the world see as versatile a figure as Herbert
Simon. A Nobel laureate in economics, he was 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 pursued a single goal: to
create a science that could map the bounds of human reason and so
enlarge its role in human affairs.
Hunter Crowther-Heyck uses the career of this unique individual
to examine the evolution of the social sciences after World War II,
particularly Simon's creation of a new field, systems science,
which joined together two distinct, powerful approaches to human
behavior, the sciences of choice and control. Simon sought to
develop methods by which human behavior, specifically human
problem-solving, could be modeled and simulated. Regarding mind and
machine as synonymous, Simon applied his models of human behavior
to many other areas, from public administration and business
management to artificial intelligence and the design of complex
social and technical systems.
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, and
technology, and for scholars of twentieth-century American
intellectual and cultural history, this account of Herbert Simon's
life and work provides a rich and valuable perspective.
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