Date: Thu, 27 Mar 1997 08:26:41 +0200 From: G P L Van der Linde <VDLINGPL-AT-alpha.unisa.ac.za> Subject: Re: chaos theory and social science -Reply I missed the postings on chaos theory, but I would like to say that I don't think the theory can be "applied" at all. It always deals with very specific phenomena, ie, complex dynamic systems with aperiodic behaviour. Any attempt to "apply" chaos theory to something else would be reductionist. I do think, however, that the theory can be used as a conceptual framework in the discussion of social ao phenomena, but even then, one would have to be extremely careful to avoid banalizing the concepts. Gerhard van der Linde >>> Ariane Sacco <sacco-AT-student.uni-kassel.de> 25/March/1997 01:00pm >>> Hello, The two mails on chaos theory read to me like one more version of an argument between the "two cultures". But perhaps it is more than a question of bad application of scientific findings in the social sciences. Too often in social questions scientific findings have been used to bolster a certain social or moral theory. And often the scientific findings weren not real science but social or moral statements. One example would be social darwinism. Does the natural fally apply to moving hypotheses from natural science to social science? How does the change of context affect the hypotheses. Ariane --- from list french-feminism-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu --- --- from list french-feminism-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu ---
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