NewsISSSEO-International Summer School in Social and Ecological OntologyUNDERSTANDING SYSTEMSUnderstanding and managing systems are complementary phases of an informed decision making process. ISSEO 2010 aims at providing new intellectual tools for developing a culture of sustainability. Modern science relies on an essentially analytic strategy. Different sciences have been developed in order to efficaciously segment the whole of reality into classes of more or less uniformly connected phenomena. This divide et impera (divide and rule) strategy has proved immensely successful, at least for some regions of reality. Other regions have proved more refractory, for a number of serious reasons. The first is that different regions may require different types of causation, some of which are still unknown, or only partially known. A second reason is that for some regions of reality the analytic strategy of breaking items down into pieces does not work properly. These regions contain items that depend not only on their parts, but also on the whole that results from them, and eventually also on higher-order wholes of which they are parts (e.g., organisms, communities). Admittedly, our understanding of non-fragmentable items is still deficient. Otherwise stated, there is no denying that a properly developed method of synthesis needs to be developed. The availability of both strategies (analytic and synthetic) will enable the development of a more articulated, integral, respectful and responsible vision of the world. The most advanced synthetic methodology actually available is represented by system theory, a theory that during the past fifty years has enjoyed alternating phases of tumultuous development and apparent decline. Broadly speaking, a system is a dynamical whole able to maintain its working conditions. The main result achieved by this preliminary understanding of a system has been the proof that the system as a whole is defined by properties not pertaining to any of its parts - a patently non-reductionist view. Fabio Caporali Jesper Hoffmeyer Roberto Poli Robert Ulanowicz |
Roberto Poli, PhDResearchI am working on three main topics, namely:
From my own perspective point, these three topics are mutually interrelated and are but different sides of a unique categorical framework. Unfortunately, however, mainstream wisdom assigns them to different disciplinary fields. In order to better counteract the unwelcome consequences of this highly unfortunate situation, I am starting to address the problem of developing a synthetic methodology, able to go beyond the limitations of the otherwise much needed analytic decompositions of the whole of reality into smaller and smaller fragments. s-mail:
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NewsFuMee 3. Unfolding the Present, Spontaneity and Mercury's ArrowFuMee is a "by-invitation" only workshop on the philosophical foundations of futures studies. FuMee is a loose and open network. As for the generic subject of FuMee's attention, it can be summarized - adapting from the work done for FuMee 2 - as follows: "The workshops are not about how to think about futures, or the many methods or 'methodologies' used now. It is concerned with the theoretical understanding of what anticipation is and what are its effects." FuMee 3, will explore the idea of the "thickness of the present" as a swirling combinatory of latent and punctual, potential and spontaneous, durable and ephemeral phenomena. FuMee 3 will be hosted by the Masters of Public Affairs at Sciences Po in Paris on May 20th and 21st. Papers will be solicited and offered by any members of the current band of FuMee participants and anyone sponsored by anyone who is currently part of the FuMee alliance. The deadline for proposals for papers or provocations or interventions at FuMee 3 is March 30th. |