--- abstract: |- The science of complexity is based on a new way of thinking that stands in sharp contrast to the philosophy underlying Newtonian science, which is based on reductionism, determinism, and objective knowledge. This paper reviews the historical development of this new world view, focusing on its philosophical foundations. Determinism was challenged by quantum mechanics and chaos theory. Systems theory replaced reductionism by a scientifically based holism. Cybernetics and postmodern social science showed that knowledge is intrinsically subjective. These developments are being integrated under the header of “complexity science”. Its central paradigm is the multi-agent system. Agents are intrinsically subjective and uncertain about their environment and future, but out of their local interactions, a global organization emerges. Although different philosophers, and in particular the postmodernists, have voiced similar ideas, the paradigm of complexity still needs to be fully assimilated by philosophy. This will throw a new light on old philosophical issues such as relativism, ethics and the role of the subject. altloc: - http://uk.arxiv.org/abs/cs.CC/0604072 chapter: ~ commentary: ~ commref: ~ confdates: ~ conference: ~ confloc: ~ contact_email: ~ creators_id: [] creators_name: - family: Heylighen given: Francis honourific: '' lineage: '' - family: Cilliers given: Paul honourific: '' lineage: '' - family: Gershenson given: Carlos honourific: '' lineage: '' date: 2006 date_type: published datestamp: 2006-04-21 department: ~ dir: disk0/00/00/48/47 edit_lock_since: ~ edit_lock_until: ~ edit_lock_user: ~ editors_id: [] editors_name: [] eprint_status: archive eprintid: 4847 fileinfo: /style/images/fileicons/application_pdf.png;/4847/1/ComplexityPhilosophy.doc.pdf full_text_status: public importid: ~ institution: ~ isbn: ~ ispublished: inpress issn: ~ item_issues_comment: [] item_issues_count: 0 item_issues_description: [] item_issues_id: [] item_issues_reported_by: [] item_issues_resolved_by: [] item_issues_status: [] item_issues_timestamp: [] item_issues_type: [] keywords: ~ lastmod: 2011-03-11 08:56:23 latitude: ~ longitude: ~ metadata_visibility: show note: ~ number: ~ pagerange: ~ pubdom: FALSE publication: 'Complexity, Science, and Society' publisher: Radcliffe refereed: FALSE referencetext: | Ansell-Pearson, K. 1999. Germinal Life: The Difference and Repetition of Deleuze. London: Routledge. Ashby W. R. An Introduction to Cybernetics, Methuen, London, 1964 Axelrod, R. M. 1984 The Evolution of Cooperation, Basic Books, New York. Bahm, AJ: (1987) "Systems Profile: General Systems as Philosophy", Systems Research, v. 4:3, pp.203-209. Bunge M (1979) Treatise on Basic Philosophy, Volume 4. Ontology II A World of Systems. Dordrecht, Netherlands: D. Reidel. Byrne, D. 1998. Complexity Theory and the Social Sciences. An Introduction. London: Routledge. Campbell, D. T. 1974 "Downward Causation" in Hierarchically Organized Biological Systems. Studies in the Philosophy of Biology, F.J. Ayala and T. Dobzhansky (eds), Macmillan, New York, . Cilliers, P. 1998. Complexity and Postmodernism. Understanding complex systems. London: Routledge. Cilliers, P. 2001. Boundaries, Hierarchies and Networks in Complex Systems. International Journal of Innovation Management, Vol. 5, No. 2, pp. 135–147. Cilliers, P. 2004. Complexity, Ethics and Justice. Journal for Humanistics (Tijdschrift voor Humanistiek), Vol. 5, nr. 19, p. 19–26 (Amsterdam: Uitgeverij SWP). Cilliers, P. 2005. Complexity, Deconstruction and Relativism. Theory Culture &Society, Vol. 22 (5), pp 255–267. Cilliers, P. and De Villiers, T. 2000. The Complex “I”, in The Political subject, edited by W. Wheeler, London: Lawrence & Wishart, pp. 226–245. Cornell, D. 1992. The Philosophy of the Limit. London: Routledge. de Rosnay J. (1979). The macroscope: a new world scientific system, HarperCollins DeLanda, M. 2005. Intensive Science and Virtual Philosophy. New York: Continuum. Deleuze, G. & Guattari, F. 1987. A Thousand Plateaus (trans. and edited by Brian Massumi) Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. Derrida, J. 1988. Limited Inc. Evanston: North-Western University Press. Freud, S. 1950 (1895). Project for a Scientific Psychology. Standard Edition, Vol. 1, pp. 281–397. London: The Hogarth Press. Gershenson, C. and F. Heylighen (2005). How can we think the complex? in: Richardson, Kurt (ed.) Managing the Complex Vol. 1: Philosophy, Theory and Application.(Institute for the Study of Coherence and Emergence/Information Age Publishing), p.47-62 Guattari, F. 1995. Chaosmosis (trans. Paul Bains and Julian Pefanis). Bloomington: Indiana University Press. Haken, H. Synergetics, Springer, Berlin, 1978. Held, D. 1980. Introduction to Critical Theory. Horkheimer to Habermas. London: Hutchinson. Heylighen F. & Joslyn C. (2001): "Cybernetics and Second Order Cybernetics", in: R.A. Meyers (ed.), Encyclopedia of Physical Science & Technology (3rd ed.), Vol. 4 , (Academic Press, New York), p. 155-170. Heylighen F. (1989): "Causality as Distinction Conservation: a theory of predict¬ability, reversibility and time order", Cybernetics and Systems 20, p. 361-384. Heylighen F. (1990): "Classical and Non-classical Representations in Physics I", Cybernetics and Systems 21, p. 423-444. Heylighen F. (1997): "Publications on Complex, Evolving Systems: a citation-based survey”, Complexity 2 (5), p. 31-36. Heylighen F. (2000): "Foundations and Methodology for an Evolutionary World View: a review of the Principia Cybernetica Project", Foundations of Science, 5, p. 457-490. Heylighen F. (2002): “The Science of Self-organization and Adaptivity”, in: L. D. Kiel, (ed.) Knowledge Management, Organizational Intelligence and Learning, and Complexity, in: The Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems ((EOLSS), (Eolss Publishers, Oxford). (http://www.eolss.net) Holland J.H. 1996 Hidden Order: How adaptation builds complexity, Addison-Wesley. Kauffman S. A. 1995, At Home in the Universe: The Search for Laws of Self-Organization and Complexity, Oxford University Press, Oxford. Langton C. G. 1990, Computation at the edge of chaos: phase transitions and emergent computation, Physica D, 42, 1-3, pp. 12-37. Luhmann, N. (1995) Social Systems, Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press. Lyotard, J. 1988. The Post-Modern Condition: A Report on Knowledge. Minneapolis: University of Minneapolis Press. Maturana, H. R., & Varela, F. J.1992, The tree of knowledge: The Biological Roots of Understanding, (rev. ed.), Shambhala, Boston. Medd W. "What Is Complexity Science?", Emergence, 2001, Vol. 3, Issue 1, p43 Morin, E. (1992), Method. The nature of nature. New York: Peter Lang. Morin, E. (1992). The concept of system and the paradigm of complexity. In M. Maruyama (Ed.), Context and Complexity. Cultivating contextual understanding. (pp.125-136) New York: Springer-Verlag. Norris, C. 1997. Against Relativism. Philosophy of Science, Deconstruction and Critical Theory. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers. Parsons T. (1991) The social system, Routledge, London Prigogine, I. and Stengers, I. 1984 . Order out of Chaos, Bantam Books, New York, Prigogine, I. and Stengers, I. 1997 The end of certainty: time, chaos and the new laws of nature - New York: Free Press Rasch, W. and Wolfe, C. (eds). 2000. Observing Complexity. Systems Theory and Postmodernity. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. Rescher, N. 1998. Complexity: a philosophical overview. New Brunswick, NJ: Transactions. Richardson, K. (ed.) 2005. Managing the Complex Vol. 1: Philosophy, Theory and Application. Greenwich: Information Age Publishing. Saussure, F. de. 1974. Course in General Linguistics. London: Fontana. Smuts, Jan C.1926 : Holism and Evolution, MacMillan, Stacey, R. 2001. Complex Responsive Processes in Organisations: Learning and Knowledge Creation. London: Routledge Stacey, R., Griffin, D. & Shaw, P. 2000. Complexity and Management: Fad or Radical Challenge to Systems Thinking? London: Routledge Taylor, M. C. 2003. The Moment of Complexity: Emerging Network Culture. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. Turchin V. (1990): "Cybernetics and Philosophy", in: The Cybernetics of Complex Systems, F. Geyer (ed.), (Intersystems, Salinas, California), p. 61-74. Urry, J. 2003. Global Complexity. Cambridge: Polity Press. von Bertalanffy, L. 1973, General System Theory (Revised Edition), George Braziller, New York. von Foerster, H., 1979 Cybernetics of Cybernetics, ed. K. Krippendorf, Gordon and Breach, New York Waldrop, M. M. (1992) Complexity: The Emerging Science at the Edge of Order and Chaos, London: Viking. relation_type: [] relation_uri: [] reportno: ~ rev_number: 12 series: ~ source: ~ status_changed: 2007-09-12 17:03:00 subjects: - comp-sci-complex-theory - phil-sci - phil-metaphys - phil-epist succeeds: ~ suggestions: ~ sword_depositor: ~ sword_slug: ~ thesistype: ~ title: Complexity and Philosophy type: bookchapter userid: 3228 volume: ~