Worldviews, Science And Us: Philosophy And Complexity

by Carlos Gershenson, Diederik Aerts, Bruce Edmonds

Overview

Scientific, technological, and cultural changes have always had an impact upon philosophy. They can force a change in the way we perceive the world, reveal new kinds of phenomena to be understood, and provide new ways of understanding phenomena. Complexity science, immersed in a culture of information, is having a diverse but particularly significant impact upon philosophy. Previous ideas do not necessarily sit comfortably with the new paradigm, resulting in new ideas or new interpretations of old ideas.In this unprecedented interdisciplinary volume, researchers from different backgrounds join efforts to update thinking upon philosophical questions with developments in the scientific study of complex systems. The contributions focus on a wide range of topics, but share the common goal of increasing our understanding and improving our descriptions of our complex world. This revolutionary debate includes contributions from leading experts, as well as young researchers proposing fresh ideas.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9789812705488
Publisher:	World Scientific Publishing Company, Incorporated
Publication date:	03/01/2007
Pages:	360
Product dimensions:	5.80(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.00(d)

Table of Contents

Introduction   Carlos Gershenson   Diederik Aerts   Bruce Edmonds     1
Restricted Complexity, General Complexity   Edgar Morin     5
Complexity Science as an Aspect of the Complexity of Science   Don C. Mikulecky     30
On the Importance of a Certain Slowness   Paul Cilliers     53
Simplicity is Not Truth-Indicative   Bruce Edmonds     65
Can the Whole be More than the Computation of the Parts? A Reflection on Emergence   Camilo Olaya     81
Why Diachronically Emergent Properties Must Also Be Salient   Cyrille Imbert     99
On the Relativity of Recognising the Products of Emergence and the Nature of the Hierarchy of Physical Matter   Kurt A. Richardson     117
Truth in Complex Adaptive Systems Models should be Based on Proof by Constructive Verification   David Shipworth     141
Complexity as an Epistemic Revolution: Considerations on the New Science in the Context of Western Intellectual History   Damian Popolo     156
Metaphors and Method: Epistemological Considerations on Complexity Science   Rodrigo Zeidan   Maria Fonseca     173
Some Problems for an Ontology of Complexity   Michael McGuire     181
How to Love the Bomb - Trying toSolve the Prisoner's Dilemma with Evolutionary Game Theory   Vasco Castela     203
Physical Complexity and Cognitive Evolution   Peter Jedlicka     221
Informational Dynamic Systems: Autonomy, Information, Function   Walter Riofrio     232
Grasping the Complexity of Living Systems Through Integrative Levels and Hierarchies   J. M. Siqueiros   Jon Umerez     250
Simulation as Formal and Generative Social Science: The Very Idea   Nuno David   Jaime Simao Sichman   Helder Coelho     266
A Compromise Between Reductionism and Non-Reductionism   Eray Ozkural     285
The Complexity of Information-Processing Tasks in Vision   John Symons     300
On the Possible Computational Power of the Human Mind   Hector Zenil   Francisco Hernandez-Quiroz     315
How Does Complex Mathemical Theory Arise? Phylogenetic and Cultural Origins of Algebra?   Helen De Cruz     338