Philosophy of climate science

The use of climate simulations in scientific assessments of climate change and in the formulation of climate change scenarios has been contested for, among others, methodological reasons. The "philosophy of climate science" e ncompasses discussions about the methodology of climate science. Three issu es with respect to climate simulation are discussed: (i) model hierarchy an d complexity, (ii) tuning and falsifiability, and (iii) uncertainty. In thi s discussion paper it is argued that high-resolution and low-resolution cli mate models have complementary roles to play in the science of climate chan ge. The role of computer simulations in climate science deserves further ph ilosophical study in order to better assess their quality for informing cli mate policy making.