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E-book
Author Angell, Ian O.

Title Science's first mistake : delusions in pursuit of theory / by Ian Angell and Dionysios S. Demetis
Published London : Bloomsbury Academic, 2010

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Description 1 online resource (xiii, 240 pages)
Series Open Access e-Books
Contents Divination and Theory Construction -- Delusion -- Individual Allusions that Limit Sensory Overload -- Patterns of Categorical Delusions -- Tidy Minds, Technology and the Myth of Control -- Systems Theory -- On the Premises of Observation -- The Frame of Observation and the Functional Differentiation of Science -- Higher-order Observations -- Asymmetry and Self-reference -- Collapsing Systems -- The Reality of the Real -- Science's First Mistake
Summary The purpose of the book is to deconstruct the process of knowledge discovery and theory construction. Grounded in the tradition of second-order cybernetics, the concept of self-reference is used in the context of systems theory in order to examine the mode in which observation, paradox and delusion become 'structurally coupled' with cognition. To put this simply, physical scientists take it as a given that all the universe is explainable once we've discovered the underlying rules. Whereas social scientists and philosophers are more sensitive to the issues around how the observer actually impacts that which is being observed. The authors work in the fields of Information Studies, which is within the technical or physical realm, and Management Studies, which is about human behaviour. Their argument is that all scientists (physical and social) rely too much on the absolutism and certainty of the methods of traditional physical science and that we should acknowledge the limitations of how we know what we know. Rooted in information systems analysis this fresh and audacious examination of knowledge discovery and theory construction makes an important contribution to the understanding of how we employ scientific method."--Publisher's description
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index
Notes Master and use copy. Digital master created according to Benchmark for Faithful Digital Reproductions of Monographs and Serials, Version 1. Digital Library Federation, December 2002. http://purl.oclc.org/DLF/benchrepro0212 MiAaHDL
English
Print version record
digitized 2011 HathiTrust Digital Library committed to preserve pda MiAaHDL
Subject Interdisciplinary approach to knowledge.
REFERENCE -- Questions & Answers.
Interdisciplinary approach to knowledge
Form Electronic book
Author Demetis, Dionysios S
LC no. 2010497506
ISBN 9781408138915
1408138913
9781849660686
1849660689
9781472544957
1472544951
184966269X
9781849662697
1780932332
9781780932330