From: Paul Zarembka (zarembka@BUFFALO.EDU)
Date: Sun Nov 06 2005 - 10:23:39 EST
France burns and Derrida's ghosts are discussed. Paul Z. ************************************************************************ RESEARCH IN POLITICAL ECONOMY, Paul Zarembka, editor, Elsevier Science ********************* http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/PZarembka On Sun, 6 Nov 2005 glevy@PRATT.EDU wrote: > ---------------------------- Original Message ------------------------ > Subject: Derrida's ghosts > From: "Jurriaan Bendien" <adsl675281@tiscali.nl> > Date: Sun, November 6, 2005 7:01 am > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > For what it's worth, I took an interest in complexity theory twenty years > ago, when I studied Ernest Mandel's interpretation of Marx's economics > (see Ernest Mandel, 'Partially independent variables and internal logic > in classical Marxist economic analysis', in Social Science Information > vol. 24 no. 3 (1985), pp. 487-88 reprinted in Ulf Himmelstrand, Interfaces > in Economic & Social Analysis, London 1992). > > But a lot of talk about complexity theory, especially in social science, > is I think really based on: > > -a confusion about the purpose of theory > -a confusion about the method of obtaining knowledge. > > Theory properly understood is generalisations about experiences which are, > however, not reducible to those experiences (as in naive empiricism of > the "covering law" type). A generalisation is a simplification of sorts. > The point of theory is not to "theorise complexity", but to identify > those salient aspects of a complex reality that can explain it or make it > comprehensible; the best scientific theory is the simplest theory with > the greatest explanatory power. > > Of course, obscurantists start talking "complexity" when they haven't > studied the facts, and cannot explain them; that is a sort of speculative > philosophy, propagated by people who think themselves very > "sophisticated". > > I think also that really the best way to learn to understand so-called > "complexity" is just to live your own life, and reflect on your own > experience of it. For the rest, I'm happy to leave the summarising of > complexity theories about complexity to my doppelganger Joshua Goldstein, > who sells a lot of books that way :-). > > Jurriaan > > >
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