The absolute, inherent limits of reductionist logic, both as a - TopicsExpress



          

The absolute, inherent limits of reductionist logic, both as a means of understanding and as a road to control, invite us into a new mode of relationship with nature. Rather than attempting to explain the workings of the whole according to the workings of the parts, emergent phenomena demand that we sometimes must explain the workings of the parts according to the purpose of the whole. Instead of looking for the underlying causes or reasons for things, this mode of relationship looks for the purpose of things. The word for this type of understanding is teleology, which is a kind of causality that pulls events toward a future purpose. These two levels of explanation are complementary, not contradictory. -- from The Ascent of Humanity.
Posted on: Mon, 19 Jan 2015 19:17:38 +0000

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