Critical Complexity: Collected Essays

Published by De Gruyter 2016

Critical Complexity

Collected Essays

Edited by: Rika Preiser

Volume 6 in the series Categories

https://doi.org/10.1515/9781501502590

Overview
Contents

About this book

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.

Author / Editor information

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

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	I
Table of Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	IX
Acknowledgements Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	XIII
Foreword Jan-Hendrik Hofmeyr Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	XV
Introduction Rika Preiser and Minka Woermann Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Part 1: Single-authored Papers. Theme 1: Characterising Complexity
The brain, the mental apparatus and the text A post-structural neuropsychology Paul Cilliers Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	23
Rules and relations Some connectionist implications for cognitive science and language Paul Cilliers Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	39
Rules and complex systems Paul Cilliers Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	55
What can we learn from a theory of complexity? Paul Cilliers Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	67
Knowledge, complexity and understanding Paul Cilliers Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	77
Boundaries, hierarchies and networks in complex systems Paul Cilliers Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	85
Why we cannot know complex things completely Paul Cilliers Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	97
Knowledge, limits and boundaries Paul Cilliers Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	105
Part 1: Single-authored Papers. Theme 2: Complexity and Philosophy
Postmodern knowledge and complexity (or why anything does not go) Paul Cilliers Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	117
Complexity, deconstruction and relativism Paul Cilliers Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	139
On Derrida and apartheid Paul Cilliers Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	153
Justice, law and philosophy An interview with Jacques Derrida Paul Cilliers, Willie van der Merwe and Johan Degenaar Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	171
Complexity, ethics and justice Paul Cilliers Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	181
Part 1: Single-authored Papers. Theme 3: Implications of Complexity Thinking
Difference, identity and complexity Paul Cilliers Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	193
Complexity and philosophy On the importance of a certain slowness Paul Cilliers Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	211
Part 2: Posthumous after 2011. Theme 1: Critical Complexity
Deconstruction and complexity A critical economy Rika Preiser, Paul Cilliers and Oliver Human Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	225
Towards an economy of complexity Derrida, Morin and Bataille Oliver Human and Paul Cilliers Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	245
The ethics of complexity and the complexity of ethics Minka Woermann and Paul Cilliers Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	265
Author Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	285

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: De Gruyter
Audience: All those interested in philosophical perspectives on science, and complexity theory in particular
Pages
- Front matter: 16
- Main content: 286
Illustrations
- Illustrations: 1
Keywords: complexity; ethics; limits of knowledge; Jacques Derrida

eBook

Published: July 11, 2016
ISBN: 9781501502590

Hardcover

Published: January 15, 2016
ISBN: 9781501510793