permaculture

["oliver smith callis" <oliversmithcallis@gmail.com>]

Hey Jason!

I hope school is treating you well, we miss you in Utah.

I just finished "The Web of Life" and "The Science of Leonardo" by Fritjof
Capra, which both have great analyses of holistic science contrasted with
the Cartesian/ mechanistic worldview throughout history.

In "The Web of Life" Capra presents his case that the holistic paradigm of
deep ecology as made the cartesian worldview obsolete very well and in a way
that most cartesian thinkers can access. He goes into the history of
science, the emergences of holism throughout history, and contemporary
advances in science to make the case.

"The Science of Leonardo" goes into the context of the natural philosophy of
the Rennaisance, both setting the stage for the context in which Gallileo,
Descartes, and Newton would set mechanism in motion, and contrasting it with
Leonardo da Vinci's remarkable systems thinking and pattern language
approach to science.

Mollison makes the point really well in the Designer's Manual that although
Permaculture is a design science, the design science of Permaculture is one
of patterns, integration, holistic thinking, and qualities, rather than the
linearity, fragmentation, specialized thinking, and quantification of
mechanistic science. I can chase out some specific sections for you when I
get home, but I would recommend the chapter "Pattern Understanding", which
has good suggested supplementary readings as well.

Capra's first book "Tao of Physics", which is one of Mollison's suggested,
draws some very interesting parallels between what "new paradigm" science is
teaching us about the nature of life and conclusions that eastern mystics
and philosophers have come to throughout the ages.


Oliver


On Thu, Oct 30, 2008 at 3:10 PM, jason brown <jasonbrown644@hotmail.com>wrote:

>
> Hello, my name is Jason Brown. I did my Perma cert this summer with Scott
> Pittman in NM. (HI SCOTT!)
>
> I am currently doing a masters degree in forestry. While the material is
> amazing and I am learning a lot. There has been a consistant mechanistic
> world view expressed and assumed. I am working on a paper analysis for the
> class and would like to include a critique of the mechanistic world view.
>
> 1) any references that come to mind on forestry, holism, mechanistic
> science, general philosophy of science...
>
> 2) What are your thoughts one the convergence of western science and other
> world views. Clearly permaculture uses plenty of the things we have learned
> from science, but is critical of its rigid institutions and assumptions...
>
> thanks!
>
> Jason b
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-- 
Oliver Smith Callis

`·.¸¸.·´¯``·.¸¸.·´¯``·.¸¸.·´¯``·.¸¸.·´¯``·.¸¸.·´¯``·.¸¸.·´¯``·.¸¸.·´¯``·.¸¸.·´¯``·.¸¸.·´¯``·.¸¸.·´¯``·.¸¸.·´¯`
"To know and not to do is not to know: I hear and I forget. I see and I
remember. I do and I understand."
-Chinese Proverb

"Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever."
-Mahatma Ghandi
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