Abstract
In the sciences, simplicity and unity are often held to be regulative ideals. In the following, I would like to make a case for a wider appreciation of the merits of complexity and pluralism. The reason is that a focus on simplicity and formal elegance may lead researchers astray as simple models may fail to faithfully grasp the diversity of nature and of human society. A complex model can sometimes provide a more fruitful framework. To illustrate this point, we will discuss examples from economics and from the neurosciences.
It seems equally important to clarify what I do not intend. I do not wish to argue against reductionism. I do not see any good reason why biological or economic phenomena could not, in principle, be reduced to, say, processes in quantum electrodynamics. But, of course, all scientific disciplines have their specific perspectives, and that includes particular levels of explanation. Complexity may arise when, for the investigation of a particular phenomenon, complementary perspectives and various levels of explanation need to be used, and, particularly, when inter-level causal connections come into play.
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Notes
- 1.
The connotation of “plain”, i.e. “simple” is intentional: Complexity in models – though mathematically sophisticated – is simpler than in reality. Simplexity would be a better name but it is already in use.
- 2.
Also “complexism” is already in use (as is “complexicism”). However, it is used in a somewhat strange way. I would be inclined to redefine the notion for the present purposes.
- 3.
The entry “causality” is by far the largest in the subject index of Esfeld’s (2012).
- 4.
Of course, if the abstraction is sufficiently weak, then we end up without any sensible notion of causality as well. Everything that appears in such a world-view is merely chaos, a wild mess. In the “Ursuppe” (primeval soup) of universal interaction it is impossible to discern any properties or relations. No individual causal dependencies can be isolated.
- 5.
Instructive as this is, it did not prevent the authors of the recent edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) from searching for a classification based purely on biological factors concerning the genetics of psychic disorders. Ironically, David Kupfer, the coordinator of DSM-revision, is fellow faculty with Sandra Mitchell.
- 6.
Therefore, Milton Friedman’s opinion, not to be concerned with the adequacy of models as long as they yield acceptable prognoses, is all but self-evident.
- 7.
This means that every synaptic connection of every neuron in C. elegans’ nervous system has been identified.
- 8.
“Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.” It is not entirely clear, however, whether Einstein expressed himself precisely in that way. The closest reliable quotation is perhaps this: “It can scarcely be denied that the supreme goal of all theory is to make the irreducible basic elements as simple and as few as possible without having to surrender the adequate representation of a single datum of experience.” (From “On the Method of Theoretical Physics,” the Herbert Spencer Lecture, Oxford, June 10, 1933.)
- 9.
“Simulation” refers to the process of constructing, using, and justifying a model that involves analytically intractable mathematics (Winsberg 2003, p. 105). At this stage, there is no established terminology, not to mention even clearly defined content for the new procedure.
- 10.
As defined above.
- 11.
Many thanks to Alan Fahy for improving the English and for the jazz metaphor, to Niels Dechow and to the members of my PhD course for debating the economic topics, and to Sebastian Urchs, Ireneusz Kojder and Felix Hasler for consultation about brains.
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Urchs, M. (2014). Just Complexity. In: Galavotti, M., Dieks, D., Gonzalez, W., Hartmann, S., Uebel, T., Weber, M. (eds) New Directions in the Philosophy of Science. The Philosophy of Science in a European Perspective, vol 5. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-04382-1_14
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