Critical Complexity: Collected Essays

This book is a collection of all the single authored essays by Paul Cilliers, published between 1990-2011. Being one of few authors who approached the study of complexity from a philosophical perspective, the main themes in these papers explore:
- Qualitative characterization of complexity and the normative implications of studying complex adaptive systems,
- the philosophical and conceptual similarity to post-structural approaches
- how any engagement with complexity leads to a critical engagement with how we do science and design interventions
- critical and normative implications for how to engage with complex socio-political concerns in the world.

What makes this book unique is that it consolidates a body of work that is distributed over a wide range of academic journals. Although his book "Complexity and Postmodernism" (Routledge, 1998) remains a cornerstone in the field of complexity studies, Cilliers’ journal essays really explore the application of the theoretical concepts in more depth. His ground-breaking ideas conceptualized in these essays have served as a continual source of novelty and inspiration in the process of applying complexity thinking to other fields of study.

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Critical Complexity: Collected Essays

This book is a collection of all the single authored essays by Paul Cilliers, published between 1990-2011. Being one of few authors who approached the study of complexity from a philosophical perspective, the main themes in these papers explore:
- Qualitative characterization of complexity and the normative implications of studying complex adaptive systems,
- the philosophical and conceptual similarity to post-structural approaches
- how any engagement with complexity leads to a critical engagement with how we do science and design interventions
- critical and normative implications for how to engage with complex socio-political concerns in the world.

What makes this book unique is that it consolidates a body of work that is distributed over a wide range of academic journals. Although his book "Complexity and Postmodernism" (Routledge, 1998) remains a cornerstone in the field of complexity studies, Cilliers’ journal essays really explore the application of the theoretical concepts in more depth. His ground-breaking ideas conceptualized in these essays have served as a continual source of novelty and inspiration in the process of applying complexity thinking to other fields of study.

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Critical Complexity: Collected Essays

Critical Complexity: Collected Essays

Critical Complexity: Collected Essays

Critical Complexity: Collected Essays

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Overview

This book is a collection of all the single authored essays by Paul Cilliers, published between 1990-2011. Being one of few authors who approached the study of complexity from a philosophical perspective, the main themes in these papers explore:
- Qualitative characterization of complexity and the normative implications of studying complex adaptive systems,
- the philosophical and conceptual similarity to post-structural approaches
- how any engagement with complexity leads to a critical engagement with how we do science and design interventions
- critical and normative implications for how to engage with complex socio-political concerns in the world.

What makes this book unique is that it consolidates a body of work that is distributed over a wide range of academic journals. Although his book "Complexity and Postmodernism" (Routledge, 1998) remains a cornerstone in the field of complexity studies, Cilliers’ journal essays really explore the application of the theoretical concepts in more depth. His ground-breaking ideas conceptualized in these essays have served as a continual source of novelty and inspiration in the process of applying complexity thinking to other fields of study.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781501510793
Publisher: De Gruyter
Publication date: 01/15/2016
Series: Categories Series
Pages: 302
Product dimensions: 6.10(w) x 9.06(h) x (d)
Age Range: 18 Years

About the Author

Rika Preiser, Centre for Studies in Complexity, Stellenbosch University, South Africa.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements xiii

Foreword Jan-Hendrik Hofmeyr xv

Introduction Rika Preiser Minka Woermann 1

Part 1 Single-Authored Papers

Theme 1 Characterising Complexity

The brain, the mental apparatus and the text: A post-structural neuropsychology Paul Cilliers 23

Rules and relations Some connectionist implications for cognitive science and language Paul Cilliers 39

Rules and complex systems Paul Cilliers 55

What can we learn from a theory of complexity? Paul Cilliers 67

Knowledge, complexity and understanding Paul Cilliers 77

Boundaries, hierarchies and networks in complex systems Paul Cilliers 85

Why we cannot know complex things completely Paul Cilliers 97

Knowledge, limits and boundaries Paul Cilliers 105

Part 1 Single-Authored Papers

Theme 2 Complexity and Philosophy

Postmodern knowledge and complexity (or why anything does not go) Paul Cilliers 117

Complexity, deconstruction and relativism Paul Cilliers 139

On Derrida and apartheid Paul Cilliers 153

Justice, law and philosophy: An interview with Jacques Derrida Paul Cilliers Willie van der Merwe Johan Degenaar 171

Complexity, ethics and justice Paul Cilliers 181

Part 1 Single-Authored Papers

Theme 3 Implications of Complexity Thinking

Difference, identity and complexity Paul Cilliers 193

Complexity and philosophy: On the importance of a certain slowness Paul Cilliers 211

Part 2 Posthumous after 2011

Theme 1 Critical Complexity

Deconstruction and complexity: A critical economy Rika Preiser Paul Cilliers Oliver Human 225

Towards an economy of complexity: Derrida, Morin and Bataille Oliver Human Paul Cilliers 245

The ethics of complexity and the complexity of ethics Minka Woermann Paul Ciltiers 265

Author Index 285

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