Complexity: A Philosophical OverviewTransaction Publishers, 1998 - 219 sidor Our world is enormously sophisticated and nature's complexity is literally inexhaustible. As a result, projects to describe and explain natural science can never be completed. This volume explores the nature of complexity and considers its bearing on our world and how we manage our affairs within it. Rescher's overall lesson is that the management of our affairs within a socially, technologically, and cognitively complex environment is plagued with vast management problems and risks of mishap. In primitive societies, failure to understand how things work can endanger a family or, at worst, a clan or tribe. In the modern world, man-made catastrophes on the model of Chernobyl can endanger millions, possibly even risking the totality of human life on our planet. Rescher explains "technological escalation" as a sort of arms race against nature in which scientific progress requires more powerful technology for observation and experimentation, and, conversely, scientific progress requires the continual enhancement of technology. The increasing complexity of science and technology (and, in consequence, of social systems) along with problems growing faster than solutions confront us with major management and decision problems. This study is the first of its kind. There have been many specialized studies of complexity in physics and computation theory, but no overall analysis of the phenomenon. Although Rescher offers a sobering outlook, he also believes that complexity entails mixed blessings: our imperfect knowledge provides a rationale for putting forth our best efforts. Rescher urges us to gear the conduct of life's practical affairs to the demands of a complex world. This highly readable and accessible volume will be of interest to those interested in philosophy, the philosophy of science, science policy studies, and future studies. |
Innehåll
The Ways of Complexity | 1 |
2 Modes of Complexity | 8 |
3 The Cognitive Aspect | 16 |
The Complexity of the Real | 25 |
The Law of Natural Complexity | 26 |
2 Descriptive Incompleteness | 31 |
The Instability of Knowledge | 33 |
4 The Cognitive Opacity of the Real | 36 |
8 Science and Reality | 121 |
Extraterrestrial Science | 129 |
2 The One World One Science Argument | 135 |
3 First Principles | 140 |
4 Potential Plurality of Science | 146 |
Are There Any Limits to the ProblemSolving Capacity of Computers? | 151 |
2 Problem Solving by Computers | 152 |
3 Theoretical Limits are not Meaningful Limitations | 154 |
5 Nomic or Operational Complexity | 41 |
6 The Imperfectibility of Knowledge in a Complex World | 45 |
Cognitive Progress in a Complex World Destabilization and Complexification | 55 |
2 The Principle of Least Effort and the Methodological Status of SimplicityPreference in Science | 58 |
3 Complexification and the Disintegration of Science | 64 |
4 Complexity and the Human Sciences | 71 |
Complex Knowledge The Growth of Science and the Law of Logarithmic Returns | 75 |
2 The Law of Logarithmic Returns | 77 |
3 The Rationale and Implication of the Law | 82 |
4 The Growth of Knowledge | 84 |
5 The Centrality of Quality and Its Implications | 86 |
Technological Escalation and the Exploration Model of Natural Science | 91 |
2 The Exploration Model of Scientific Inquiry | 96 |
An Arms Race Against Nature | 98 |
The Theoretical Unrealizability of Perfected Science | 105 |
Issues of Erotetic Completeness | 107 |
3 Pragmatic Completeness | 110 |
4 Predictive Completeness | 113 |
5 Temporal Finality | 115 |
6 The Dispensability of Perfection | 117 |
7 Perfected Science as an Idealization that Affords a Useful Contrast Conception | 119 |
Inadequate Information | 155 |
Limits of PredictionRealTime Processing Problems | 157 |
7 Inherent Limits of PredictionSelfInsight Problems | 159 |
Limits of ModelingCognitive Thermodynamics | 161 |
9 The Human Element | 162 |
Coping with Cognitive Limitations Problems of Rationality in a Complex World | 165 |
The Predicament of Reason | 169 |
Technology Complexity and Social Decision | 173 |
2 Problem Complexity Outpaces Solution Complexity | 177 |
Risk and Destabilization | 181 |
4 Concretization Quandaries and Decision Gridlock | 184 |
5 A Retrospective Reflection | 188 |
Complexitys Bearing on Philosophical Anthropology | 191 |
The Paradox of Finitude | 193 |
3 Principles of Complexity | 199 |
4 Philosophizing in a Complex World | 202 |
5 After Postmodernism | 205 |
211 | |
217 | |
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Complexity: A Philosophical Overview Professor of Philosophy Nicholas Rescher,Taylor & Francis Group Ingen förhandsgranskning - 2020 |