Unsimple Truths: Science, Complexity, and Policy
()
About this ebook
The world is complex, but acknowledging its complexity requires an appreciation for the many roles context plays in shaping natural phenomena. In Unsimple Truths, Sandra Mitchell argues that the long-standing scientific and philosophical deference to reductive explanations founded on simple universal laws, linear causal models, and predict-and-act strategies fails to accommodate the kinds of knowledge that many contemporary sciences are providing about the world. She advocates, instead, for a new understanding that represents the rich, variegated, interdependent fabric of many levels and kinds of explanation that are integrated with one another to ground effective prediction and action.
Mitchell draws from diverse fields including psychiatry, social insect biology, and studies of climate change to defend “integrative pluralism”—a theory of scientific practices that makes sense of how many natural and social sciences represent the multi-level, multi-component, dynamic structures they study. She explains how we must, in light of the now-acknowledged complexity and contingency of biological and social systems, revise how we conceptualize the world, how we investigate the world, and how we act in the world. Ultimately Unsimple Truths argues that the very idea of what should count as legitimate science itself should change.
Related to Unsimple Truths
Related ebooks
Essays on Life Itself Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Idealization and the Aims of Science Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBACK TO REALITY Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCritical Transitions in Nature and Society Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Science and Certainty Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDiversity and Complexity Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Holistic Darwinism: Synergy, Cybernetics, and the Bioeconomics of Evolution Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Cybernetic Brain: Sketches of Another Future Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Chaos and Order: Complex Dynamics in Literature and Science Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Harnessing Complexity: Organizational Implications of a Scientific Frontier Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5ON CONSCIOUSNESS: Science & Subjectivity - Updated Works on Global Workspace Theory Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsArt and Complexity Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Complexity of Cooperation: Agent-Based Models of Competition and Collaboration Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Emotion Machine: Commonsense Thinking, Artificial Intelligence, and the Future of the Human Mind Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Complex Systems: Lecture Notes of the Les Houches Summer School 2006 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPhase Transitions Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Patterns of Connection: Essential Essays from Five Decades Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Self-Organization in Biological Systems Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Complexity Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5On Growth, Form and Computers Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Science and Hypothesis Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Natural and Artificial Intelligence: Misconceptions about Brains and Neural Networks Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Electric Meme: A New Theory of How We Think Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Simply Complexity: A Clear Guide to Complexity Theory Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Toward Human-Level Artificial Intelligence: Representation and Computation of Meaning in Natural Language Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRobustness and Evolvability in Living Systems Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Ranulph Galnville and How to Live the Cybernetics of Unknowing Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Direction of Time Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsReflections on Mind and the Image of Reality Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAnticipatory Systems: Philosophical, Mathematical and Methodological Foundations Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Philosophy For You
The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Four Loves Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sun Tzu's The Art of War: Bilingual Edition Complete Chinese and English Text Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Denial of Death Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Meditations: Complete and Unabridged Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Republic by Plato Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Art of War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Experiencing God (2021 Edition): Knowing and Doing the Will of God Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Egyptian Book of the Dead: The Complete Papyrus of Ani Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Courage to Be Happy: Discover the Power of Positive Psychology and Choose Happiness Every Day Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Inward Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Human Condition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Beyond Good and Evil Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Art of Loving Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lying Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Plato and a Platypus Walk Into a Bar...: Understanding Philosophy Through Jokes Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Buddha's Guide to Gratitude: The Life-changing Power of Everyday Mindfulness Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Bhagavad Gita (in English): The Authentic English Translation for Accurate and Unbiased Understanding Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Course in Miracles: Text, Workbook for Students, Manual for Teachers Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Tao Te Ching: A New English Version Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Tao Te Ching: Six Translations Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Questions for Deep Thinkers: 200+ of the Most Challenging Questions You (Probably) Never Thought to Ask Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Bhagavad Gita Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Mindfulness in Plain English: 20th Anniversary Edition Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Beyond Good and Evil Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The City of God Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Unsimple Truths
0 ratings0 reviews