Bridging Complexity and Post-Structuralism: Insights and Implications

212 Pages·2016·3.039 MB·English

by  Minka Woermann (auth.)

Minka Woermann
Bridging
Complexity
and Post-
Structuralism
Insights and Implications
Bridging Complexity and Post-Structuralism

Minka Woermann
Bridging Complexity
and Post-Structuralism
Insights and Implications
Minka Woermann
Department of Philosophy
Stellenbosch University
Matieland , South Africa
ISBN 978-3-319-39045-1 ISBN 978-3-319-39047-5 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-39047-5
Library of Congress Control Number: 2016944360
© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016
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For Mila and Stefan

Acknowledgements
A special word of thanks to Sven Woermann, Stefan Vrba, Mari Vrba, Sep Vrba,
and Kim Vrba for your love and support; Mila Woermann and Stefan Woermann for
the joy and meaning that you bring to my life; my colleagues at Stellenbosch
University’s Philosophy Department for your collegiality, encouragement, and
accommodation; Dr. Rika Preiser for accompanying me on the journey to discover-
ing and articulating the workings of complex systems; and Prof. em. Egidius Berns,
Dr. Erik Meganck, and Vasti Calitz for taking the time to read and to comment on
an earlier version of this work. I also extend my thanks and gratitude to the late Prof.
Paul Cilliers for his intellectual passion and generosity, and for his formative infl u-
ence on my intellectual development.
L astly, I thank the S outh African Journal of Philosophy for permission to reprint
material on pp. 451–452 of the article titled, ‘The ethics of complexity and the com-
plexity of ethics’ (co-authored with Paul Cilliers); and on pp. 281–283 of the article
titled, ‘Moral imperatives for an immanent world: an investigation of the pragmatist,
deconstructive, and ante-philosophical positions’.
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Contents
1 Introduction ............................................................................................... 1
1.1 Aims of the Study .............................................................................. 1
1.2 Philosophical Complexity .................................................................. 2
1.3 Post-structuralism .............................................................................. 6
1.4 Methodology ...................................................................................... 7
1.5 The Ethics of Living and the Question of the Foreigner ................... 8
1.6 Chapter Synopses ............................................................................... 10
1.7 Conclusion ......................................................................................... 12
References ................................................................................................... 12
2 Towards an Understanding of Philosophical Complexity ..................... 15
2.1 Introduction ........................................................................................ 15
2.2 Cybernetics ........................................................................................ 17
2.2.1 First-Order Cybernetics and Information Theory .................. 17
2.2.2 Second-Order Cybernetics and Autopoiesis .......................... 20
2.2.3 Third-Order Cybernetics and Artifi cial Life .......................... 25
2.3 Cybernetics and Philosophical Complexity ....................................... 27
2.4 General Systems Theory .................................................................... 31
2.5 General Systems Theory and Philosophical Complexity ................... 33
2.6 Philosophical Complexity and Complexity Science,
or the Distinction Between Complexity and Complicatedness .......... 37
2.6.1 Complexity Science ............................................................... 38
2.6.2 Complicated Versus Complex Systems.................................. 40
2.7 Conclusion ......................................................................................... 42
References ................................................................................................... 43
3 The Economy of Complexity .................................................................... 47
3.1 Introduction ........................................................................................ 48
3.2 Bataille ............................................................................................... 49
3.2.1 The Restricted and the General Economy ............................. 50
3.2.2 Hegel Versus Bataille, or Lordship Versus Sovereignty ........ 52
3.2.3 The Possibility of Open Economies ....................................... 55
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