In Praise of the Impure
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4386670 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Pierre Laszlo (0000-0003-4334-771X, corresponding author) |
| Year | 1995 |
| Volume | 24 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 70 |
| Publication date | 1995-01-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | SubStance (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0049-2426 • E-ISSN: 1527-2095 |
| Publisher | Project MUSE (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.2307/3685008 |
| OpenAlex | W2322970403 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
I AM A SCIENTIST BY PROFESSION. Nature, as I observe it-the whirl of phenomena to be understood, interpreted and transferred-is the world of chemical transformations. This has made me familiar with model-building for data analysis. I would like to focus here on levels of representation.1 It is a trite observation indeed that one can formulate quite a few representations for any given phenomenon. Furthermore, and as a rule, these schema (often iconic) are ordered. A first question is that of the origin and validity of such hierarchies. A second question is whether building such ordered sets of representations is a general feature of the mind, whatever the field of study, when what we try to understand can belong either to an artistic or a scientific sphere. A third issue thus is the possible existence of some invariable and universal ability in the mind that devises such classifications among representations. At this point, the devil's advocate raises a major objection: the various disciplines lack intercommunication. We live in a time when it is easy to ignore the strength of such a critique, infected as we are by the ambient relativism, and beset as we are by mediocre interpretations of every kind. And yet there is much evidence to support such a critique: one could infer from the difference between the founding apories of chemistry and of physics, or of biology and biochemistry, or of astronomy and cosmology, that scientists in the various fields of knowledge do not share a single, unifying vision. Their various world views, according to the critique, are mutually incompatible. This is a way of putting an abrupt stop to the discussion
Epistemology · Field (mathematics) · Phenomenon · Political science · Politics · Praise · Pure mathematics · Relativism · Representation (politics) · Schema (genetic algorithms) · Sociology · Computer Science · Law · Mathematics · Philosophy · Philosophy and History of Science · Psychology · Social Psychology
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,04 |
| Citation span | 1998 - 1998 (1) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |