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  • From: "oliver smith callis" <oliversmithcallis@gmail.com>
  • To: permaculture <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [permaculture] Philosophy of Science
  • Date: Mon, 3 Nov 2008 18:34:26 -0700

May God us keep
from single vision and Newton's sleep

William Blake

"The great shock of twentieth century science has been that systems cannot
be understood by analysis. The properties of the parts are not intrinsic
properties but can be understood only within the larger context of the
whole." Capra, Web of Life p.29

"In the Cartesian paradigm scientific descriptions are believed to be
objective - that is, in dependent of the human observer and the process of
knowing. The new paradigm implies that epistemology - understanding of the
process of knowing - has to be included explicitly in the description of
natural phenomena... In the words of Heisenberg: 'What we observe is not
nature itself, but nature exposed to our method of questioning.' Thus
systems thinking involves a shift from objective to 'epistemic' science, to
a framework in which epistemology - 'the method of questioning' - becomes
an integral part of scientific theories." Capra, Web of Life p.40
"The unique characteristic of the epistemology implied by the Santiago
theory [of cognition] is that it takes issue with an idea that is common to
most epistemologies but is rarely mentioned explicitly - the idea that
cognition is a representation of an independently existing world...
According to the Santiago theory, cognition is not a representation of an
independent, pregiven world, but rather a bringing forth of a world. What is
brought forth by a particular organism in the process of living is not the
world but a world, one that is always dependent on the organisms structure.
Since individual organisms within a species have more or less the same
structure , they bring forth similar worlds. We s, moreover, share an
abstract world of language and thought through which we bring forth our
world together." Capra, Web of Life p. 270

"Hinduism denies the existence of an objective reality. As in the Santiago
theory, the objects we perceive are brought forth through action. However,
the process of bringing forth the world occurs on a cosmic scale rather than
at the human level of cognition. The world brought forth in Hindu mythology
is not a world for a particular human society bound together by language
and culture, but the world of the magic divine play that holds us all under
its spell." Capra, Web of Life p 291

"The understanding of pattern then, will b e of crucial importance to the
scientific understanding of life. However, for a full understanding of a
living system, the understanding of its pattern of organization, although
critically important is not enough. We also need to understand the systems
structure. Indeed we have seen that the study of structure has been the
principal approach of Western science and philosophy and as such has
eclipsed the study of pattern.




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