Herbert A. Simon
American political scientist, economist and cognitive psychologist (1916 to 2001), known for bounded rationality and satisficing; Turing Award 1975 with Allen Newell, Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences 1978.
Herbert A. Simon did not write this page. ppll compiled it from their own words, each linked to the source. Is this you? · Report a mistake
What they believe
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The social sciences need the rigour and mathematical foundations that made the hard sciences successful
The social sciences, I thought, needed the same kind of rigor and the same mathematical underpinnings that had made the “hard” sciences so brilliantly successful.
nobelprize.orgSaid c. 1978This on korrents
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The world's great problems all have technical and human content that cannot be separated
The decisions to take these steps were acknowledgements that all the great problems that face our world today have both technical and human content – the one intermingled inseparably with the other.
nobelprize.orgSaid 10 Dec 1978This on korrents
The bold line is korrents’ wording; the quote is theirs. These 2: what they wrote before what they said aloud, one per source, newest first.
Beliefs
Korrents What they believe 7 beliefs — each backed by an exact quote.
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The social sciences need the rigour and mathematical foundations that made the hard sciences successful
The social sciences, I thought, needed the same kind of rigor and the same mathematical underpinnings that had made the “hard” sciences so brilliantly successful.
Herbert A. Simon, Biographical (Nobel autobiography, 1978) Said c. 1978
The right way to study human problem-solving is to simulate it with computer programs
About 1954, he and I conceived the idea that the right way to study problem-solving was to simulate it with computer programs.
Herbert A. Simon, Biographical (Nobel autobiography, 1978) Said c. 1978
Schools give little hint until late that human behaviour can be studied scientifically
The idea that human behavior may be studied scientifically is never hinted until much later in the educational process – it was certainly not conveyed by history or “civics” courses as they were then taught.
Herbert A. Simon, Biographical (Nobel autobiography, 1978) Said c. 1978
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The social sciences should be hardened, and natural and social scientists should work together on public policy
In the “politics” of science, which these and other activities have entailed, I have had two guiding principles – to work for the “hardening” of the social sciences so that they will be better equipped with the tools they need for their difficult research tasks; and to work for close relations between natural scientists and social scientists so that they can jointly contribute their special knowledge and skills to those many complex questions of public policy that call for both kinds of wisdom.
Herbert A. Simon, Biographical (Nobel autobiography, 1978) Said c. 1978
The world's great problems all have technical and human content that cannot be separated
The decisions to take these steps were acknowledgements that all the great problems that face our world today have both technical and human content – the one intermingled inseparably with the other.
Herbert A. Simon, Nobel Banquet speech (10 December 1978) Said 10 Dec 1978
Solving problems like hunger, pollution and poverty requires deeper knowledge of both nature's laws and human behaviour
To deal with these problems – of world population and hunger, of peace, of energy and mineral resources, of environmental pollution, of poverty – we must broaden and deepen our knowledge of Nature’s laws, and we must broaden and deepen our understanding of the laws of human behavior.
Herbert A. Simon, Nobel Banquet speech (10 December 1978) Said 10 Dec 1978
The powers of the human mind, though finite, should be used to seek a more humane world
On this occasion we renew our resolution to use all the powers of the human mind, finite though they be, to search forward to a more humane world.
Herbert A. Simon, Nobel Banquet speech (10 December 1978) Said 10 Dec 1978
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