ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the role artificial intelligence techniques can play in developing sociological theories. It introduces artificial intelligence, and identifies key features that distinguish this from other computing approaches. The chapter also discusses some of the future prospects for artificial intelligence and sociological theorizing. Artificial intelligence is a specialty within computer science that attempts to program computers to perform tasks once thought possible only for thinking human beings. Within the broad field of artificial intelligence, there are several subareas. The work of G. Garson and Edward Brent, Dale Rude, and Ron Ebert illustrates one application of artificial intelligence techniques in theory development. Glymour, Richard Scheines, Peter Spirtes, and Kevin Kelly provide an example of another use of artificial intelligence techniques to develop theories that have a particular application to causal models. Sanjoy Banerjee uses logic programming to create an artificial intelligence program representing social structures as preferences and judgments of social causality by participants in a particular historical s.
