Isabelle Stengers - Power and Invention: Situating Science (Theory Out of Bounds Series , Vo 10) (1997)

8/20/2019 Isabelle Stengers - Power and Invention: Situating Science (Theory Out of Bounds Series , Vo 10) (1997)

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Situating Science

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Sanda Buckey

Michael Hart

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Power and Inventio.Situating Sciece Isabee Senges PRACTICES OF ESISANC

9 Arrow of ChaosRomanticism and Postmoderity a ivngtn

Becoming-Woman Caa Ge

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7 A Potential Politics.

Radical Thought in Italy Vi a Mcae Had, etr6 Capita TimesTales rom the Conquest o Time Ec ez POCSSES

S The Year o Passages Ra ensmoa

4 Labor o Dionysus.A Critique o the StateForm Mcae at a ntn Ne

Bad Aborigina Art: Traditio,Media ad Techological Horizos E hs

The Cinematic Body Steve Sa

1 The Coming Community igi Age

OF

HYBDZATION


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Pow er and Invent i on

Situating Science

Isabelle Stengers

Foreword by Bruno Latour • Translated by Paul Bains

Theory out of Bounds Vlum 10

Unversity of Minesota Pess

Mi nneapoli s L o n d o n


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The Universi of Minnesota Press gatefy acknowledges tansaion assistance provie

fo this book "Les Emcheurs de pense en ond at Sthao, Pais.

Engish tansaon copyright 1997 y he Regents of he Universiy o Mnnesota

The Universit of Minnesota Press gratey acowedges permission to translate and reprint the olowing essas;

cbapter orignaly appeared as "Compeit: Eet de mode ou proJme? in D une sene

laure

Des nes nmades Ediions du Seui, Paris, 987; chapter 2 originay appeared as "Briser Ie cerce de a

raison susante in Cahers Marses 68 (989; chapter 3 originay appeared n a dierent orm as

Le Renchantment du monde in a nuvee aane mamhse de a sene Edions Gaimard, Paris 979;

chapter originally appeared as "Des tortues jusquen as in Lau-ransan De a hsue au lueEditions du Seui, Paris 98; chapter 5 originay appeared as "Boites noires scientues

oites noires proessionneles in a hanase une sene Copight 989 es Beles ettres, Pars

chapter 6 originay appeared as Comment parer des sciences in hmres vo! no. 2 199);

chapter 7 originay appeared as Une science au mnn in es ne senues Copright 1989 y

Editions a Dcouverte, Paris chapter 8 originaly appeared as "Me et un sexes ou un seu n es hres senues

neles un see Editions d'acadie, Canada, 199 chapter 0 originay appeared as "emps et reprsentaion

in Culure ehnue 9 1983 chapter orginay appeared as Droes e d hoandas in es em€heurs de

enser en rnd Snthao, Paris 992 chapter 12 originaly appeared in ure ua 10 Decemer 98.

Al rights reseved.

No part o this puicaton may e

reproduced stored in a retrieva system,

or transmitted

in any orm or y any means,

electronic mechanica, photocopying,

recording or otheise, wihout

he prior written permission o the puisher.

Puished y he University of Minesota Press

11 hird Avenue Souh, Suite 290Minneapois, MN 4012520

http//www.upressumnedu

Printed in the United States o America on acidree paper

LIBRARY OF ONGRESS CATALOGIG-PBLICATIO ATAStengers, saee

Poer and invention : sitatng science saele Stengers ;transated y Pau Bains foreord y Bruno atour.

p. m heory out of ounds ; v. 10

cudes index.

SBN 08662166 ak paper SBN 08166217 (p :

ak paper. SciencePhiosophy 2. nventionsPhiosophy. 3 Scence

Socia aspects. . Tite SeriesQ175.S736 997

0dc21 97-2160

CP

he Universi o Minnesota

is an eua-opportunit educator and empoyer.


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Contents

Part I.

Part II

Part III

Foreword B Lt

Science and Compleity

Compleity: A Fad?

Breaking the Circle of Sufficient Reason

The Reenchantment of the World (wh Il Prgg

Turtles All the Way Down

Powers of Inention

Black Boes; or, Is Psychoanalysis a Science? 7 9

Of Paradigms and Puzzles 0 9

Is There a Women's Science?

The Thousand and One Sees of Science

Who Is the Author? 5

Science and Society

Time and Representation 7(wh Dr Gll

Drugs: Ethical Choice or Moral Consensus 5(wh lvr Rl

Body Fluids (wh D Gll

Notes 9

Inde 4 5


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er

Stengers s Shibbleth

Bno Latour

Wuld you say that Isabelle Stengers is the greatest French philosopher o science?

Ys ecept she isom Belgium a count that eists on in part and here unlike France

the link beteen science and the state is nil

uld you say that she is the philosophical right hand o the Nobel Prize inner

r chemistry Ilya Prigogine?

Ys since she rote several books ith him and yet she has spent the rest o her le

trying to escape om the mass o lunatics attracted to this "ne alliance

beteen science and culture that they both created

Is she a historian o science?

Hard to say Although she rote etensive on Gaeo on nineteenth-centu theodynamics

and on chemistry she remains a philosopher interested in hat her physicist and chemistcolleagues should understand o their science Her main object o attention is modern science

and this is hat historians and philosophers should study togethe no?

Yu are not going to say that she is an internalt philosopher o science are you?

rse than that Isabelle Stengers is an "hyperinternalist orcing you alays to go rther toard

a all number o theoretical decions made by her scientc coeagues

In her eyes most scientists are oen not internalist enough


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But at least dont tell us that she is a iggish historian o siene looking, like Gaston Bahelard or

Georges Canguilhem, r the ays in hih hard siene naly esapes om histo.

She is, I am aaid, muh orse. She is "anti-antiiggish, trying to gure out

hy the antiiggish stane is not the good ay to aount or ha it is to

"in in siene, at least not one aims at onvining the hemists and

biologists and physiists she is orking ith

But she is a oman philosophe and at least she must develop some kind ominist philosophy o siene?

There is hard anyone more ritial o the minist literature, although she uses it

etensive and knos it quite e

Then she must be one o these abstrat minds ting to rationay reonstrut the oundations o

siene and, being busy, erasing al signs o her se, gende nationality, and standpoint?

Not at al, there is no one more eternalist than her or ho reads more etensively

in the literature on the soial histo o siene.

at? Does she have any patiene or those ridiulous attempts at onneting siene and soiety?

Wrse than that, she is addited to it and knos more "siene studies than anyone else in the eld.

Do you mean to say that she likes it beause it atters her radial leanings in politis?

rse, she rote on drug legalization, she is a militant in a smal le-ing Belgium party,

and even ent as ar as orking ith harlatans pratiing hypnosis and

other kinds o unorthodo ures . I told you, Isabee Stengers is alays orse!She rote as muh on hypnosis as on physis and she happily ompares

hemist laboratories and ethnophiat, going so ar

as to rehabilitate the ord "harlatan

Then she must be one o these ignorant radials doing politis beause they are

unable to grasp the nieties o siene?

Not quite, sine she does radial politis through the arel denition o hat aplae, agrange,

Caot have done ith their equations.I am thorough lost . . then she must be quite a oman?!

Ys, and quite a mind!

But, tel me, ho ome you have been asked to rite a reord or someone ho seems obviously

muh better endoed in philosophial subtleties, politial il, and sienti knoledge than yourse

w


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Ths s qute strange I concu I guess t s because o the tradton n scence studes and n

anthropolo o the modern orld to study "up nstead o "don Tng to sallo hard scences

had a ve good ect on the soer ones I guess t s the same th Stenge. Yu grnd your teeth on

her argument, andyou el much better aerard!

One sple ay to dene ths collecton o artcles presented n Englsh s to saythat they have een rtten y a phlosopher nterested n the very classcal ues-

ton o dstngushng good scence ro ad. Her ne soluton to ths old prolell e hoever dcult to grasp oth or scence studes and or phlosophersand t s a soluton that reures soe clarcaton. Isaelle Stengers does not sharethe antnoratve stance o ost recent hstorans and socologsts o scence andhas no uals aout lookng or a sholeth that ll help sort out scence rononscence In ths sense ut n ts sense only her ork s argnally ore ac-ceptale to AgloAercan epsteologsts than those o scence studes hoshy aay ro any noratve poston. Phlosophers ll at least e ale to recog-

nze that here s soeone ho s not coplacent vsvs the producton o ad sc-ence and ho shares ther ll or a good cleansng jo. he derence ecause or-tnately there s one les n the act that her on touchstone eans gettng rd oost epsteologsts and ute a lot o hard scences So the noratve goal s s-lar ut the prncples o choce are radcally derent

here does ths derence coe ro? Isaelle Stengers haschosen to look or a touchstone dstngushng good scence ro ad not n epste-ology ut n ontology not n the ord ut n the orld hs s the trat that no

dout akes her ork sound so zarre to e nnuerale descendants o Kant andWttgensten people n the ranks o phlosophy and socal constructon alke. heonly ay to deterne hy a stateent can e accurate or naccurate has een snceat least Kant's Copecan revoluton to look at ho the nd the language theran ncton. hle e are dsputng aong huans ho to have a athl repre-sentaton o the orld the orld tsel n the eante reans copletely out othe scene serenely and ostnately slar to hat t s Ausngly enough ths pre-supposton s shared y the very classcal phlosophers ho nsst on radcally sepa

ratng epsteologcal o ontolocal uestons and y the radcal socologsts honsst very classcally on leavng the orld outsde o our representatons. Everonesees to agree that n sortng out good scence ro ad only the huan sde hasto e nterrogated not hat the thngs do snce they cannot e the source o oursnterpretaton aout the nor o our consensus on hat ey nally are Stengersssoluton to the ueston o ho e coe to agree or dsagree aout the orld s

Foe w o


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copeey nonKanian. o e sure our socie anguage ind and rain coude cause or soe isundersanding u he ain parner o e inerrogaed orsources o uncerainies is he copexi o he ord hich does no ai ousideand does no reain eua o ise. gains episeoog and agains socia con-srucion Sengers direcs our aenion o he ays in hich he ord is agiaingise and puzzing us.

his is especiay cear in her irs period so o speak hichakes up Par o his ook during hich she cooperaed ih Prigogine o un

9 ersan_i: iniae eve he chaoic agiaion o he ord ise coudodi our denion o science. Here is he rs draac case o a noraive ouch-sone o sor ou good science ro ad ha does no ook or he iis o huanrepresenaion u or he ord's ays o arkng he iis. or he auhors ohose ooks he success o hich has een phenoena in rench a eas)3 anydiscipine ha does no ake ino accoun he arro o ie or eer he arros oies) is no a science no aer ho hard respecae or highy oecive i ookshis as he rs appicaion o a coud e caed an "onoogica ouchsoneha is ceary dieren ro he one used y episeoogiss since i hros inohe dusin he ver discipines ha had een used uni hen as he sandard oudge a oher eors a scieniciy. Ceary episeoog ih is aenion oanguage represenaon cari and rigor is no euipped o sor ou good sciencero ad since i has een unae o deec ha ie irreversiii copexiand agiaion have een papered over y os auhors in cassica physics Youind guides! You srain ou a gna u sao a cae Ma. 34.

I Isaee Sengers had sck o his rs deiniion o her ono-ogica ouchsone she oud have reained a coenaor o Prigogine's ghsand uarres ih his peers and oher "dear coeagues She oud have een hephiosophica henchan o a highy conroversia cheis. or he sae reason sheoud have reained he deep adirer o Sephen ay Goud and o a he evou-ionar heoriss engaged in a consan dearcaion eeen good and ad narra-ives aou a sujec evouion ha has any ore degrees o reedo han ourrepresenaions o i. Bu in his ay she oud have orever sayed a cassic phioso-pher o science eped y he raher roanic idea o a science o ie reconciedih he res o cuure. Bu as she discovered in par ecause o he success o hisrs ork) he ne aiance eeen science and cure canno e so uick andcheap. No aer ho iedependen a science o phenoena ar ro euiiriucan e i reains a science ha is an aep a saiizing he ord Bu ha isa science his "second period corresponds or Isaee Sengers o a series o ar

wX


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xxi

cs and ooks n n h on na n hch sh xpos anoh vson oan agad od h vson od y h adngs o Ad Noh hhadand Gs Duz n hs scond ay so o spak o h sa onoogca ouch-son sh ovs o phosophy o scnc o phosophy pop o h us-on o an agad chaoc od o scnc o h onoogy o a od ha s sh an caus o os o ou uncans.

n couns h phosophy has n spaad no ps

oog on h on hand and hsoy o das on h oh s v had o oca aphosoph k Sngs ho aks up h noav ask o psoogy u hocas ou y usng h oos o aphyscans k Lnz o hhad hoo gnaons hav n augh o no augh a a) as so any dad h as.o h aphyscs s psoog pusud y oh ans a sous ask haus h cocv sdo o h ho hso o scnc and houghs and hacanno dsdan any o h jcd cas o pas phosophy o unddog scncs.s ca n adng hs vou h cs o hs ng sagy a vy

sang spcay hn aous scnssGao Ensn Ponca Pancka ad no as hos ho ok aay o phosophy u as hos ho can -vad o h v o ga and conovsa aphyscans ghng as uas hoscu gs o dva hoogy k h unxpcd nn p a avo gu o Sngs's say. h c vn sang hn ad y ahsoan ho no undsand ho on can jup so asy hough cnus andy ho hav o cogz ha a v pon Sngs's accouns no hsocan chaac a a as "hso copa No nnas phosoph has po

vdd o hookups n h agun o pug n h os advancd "pphcs ason says n copu paanc o soca hsoy o scnc. h su s a pos has no aays asy o oo u n hch scnc and phosophy a ocd o aganco had onoogca and poca usons a v sang xu o hchSngs has snc ound a n au na a na akn ou o Kan's vhoo ha o coopolitics. s on o h any sudns sad n js h nuson s no ong o dcd a san s PC u s CC anng "cos-opocay coc.

ha s a CC san? ha s a san ha pusus hask o dacaon a h ay o onoog? On hng s su h ad appso Sngs h adona sn n scnc pocs hcs and hoogha chaaczs h odns do hn h ap had o oo andso hhad's and Duz's. Al hs auhos do no cognz h s-n ha can dnd n h oong ay s a od ousd unouchd y


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ua ads ad pervous to ua stor; secod a d soated sde tso d strvg to ga a access to a asoute certat aout te as o teorld outsde; trd a poltca orld do tere ceary dstct ro te orldoutsde ad ro te d sde c s agtated y ads ad passos lares ovoece ad eruptos o desres coectve peoea tat ca e ueted dooly y rgg te uversal as o scece te sae ay tat a re ca eextgused oy y ater oa ad sad tro ro aove; ad ourt a sort

o posto up tere tat serves as a arrat or te clear separato o te treesperes aove a ve o oere tat s occuped eter y te God o acet re-lgos r recet tes y a ore reae ad atc gure tat o te pys-cstGod o took upo set s detely a e! to ake sure tat tereare aays eoug las o pyscs to stop uas ro eavg rratoay. Noprogress ca e ade te posopy o scece te oe settleet s otdscussed at oce all ts copoets otoogy epsteolog etcs potcs adteolog. s pot o etod as ee ade cear y te ay troug te socaled

scece ars tat rg all te dstct treads o te od setteet togeter agaexcept tat as usua stor repeats tsel as parody .

It oud e a uderstateet to say tat Stegers s ot a par-tsa o tat sort o costtuto. But eter s er posto tat o te crtcal stadtake y soca costructosts o preer to say tat te coectos etee teseour speres do exst ut are uortuatey detaced; tat te sde d does otave a sae coecto t te outsde ord c eas tat o dsputaeas o scece ca e rougt to uec te poltca urest o te uruly asses

c as te coseuece tat ay godke gure l rea orever totay po-tet But ke er oly true etor Deeuze Isaelle Stegers as o patece orcrtca tkg Se does ot ever say tat tose speres are ecessary ad tatcoectos etee te ave ee aas severed Se clas tat tose speresdo ot exst at all ad ave ever exsted te ord s ot outsde te d s otsde potcs s ot do tere ad as or te pyscstGod e possesses o vero ayere ecause tere s o oger ay eed or ts sort o artrato orkAgloerca readers ote ave dcult acceptg tat oe ca tk ad

rte out o te Kata settleet atogeter ad tus aso out o ts crtcal ap-prasa. I t s ot at tey assue te t as to e ttgeste. I te oderstoudato s posse te t as to e te costat roy exerted agast telack o ay oudato

Isaele Stegers does ot ke roy ore ta deucato. Seproposed oce to dee posopy as "'uour de a vrt.7 ke ost poso

=


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x

phrs o hr tradton sh lvs n a orld o vnts not n a prson o ords tryngdspraty to rprsnt an asnt and araay stat o aars Propostons to takup on o hthads ky ords ar ovng through and ar not huan ntrpr-tatons o thngsnthsvs that oud out thr ranng ndrnt to ourat Poltcs s not aout utng don passons and otons y rngng n ra-tonaty ro aov ut aout dcdng on th spot hat s th good propostonthat dos ustc to an vnt h nd s not an soatd anguagarr placd n

th possl dou nd o havng to nd asolut truth hl t has n cut oro all th connctons that oud hav allod t to ratvly surand notasoluty crtano ts any rlatons It s a ody an thoogcal ody or tous Dluz's xprsson a "hat o hought h country n hch thos noncrt-ca phlosophrs trav s totally drnt ro th unar andscap n hch pst-oogsts and soca constructonsts hav n agng thr tohundrdyar ar.On s not th crtu o th othr hy dr k nonodty ro odrntylk th surac o th grn plant drs ro that o th oon.

I thr s no sparaton n ord and ord tn propostons and su-stancs tn hat happns huans and hat happns to nonhuans thn Isa-l Stngrs should al on l oct thr nto th physcals (or organcs)o hch Duz has n so otn accusd or s nto th gnrazd Machavl-ans o so socoogsts o scnc Sh ght hav scapd ro th odrnststtlnt ut on could oct sh has to all nto th doul pr o "vrythngs natr or "vrythng s poltcs. h trap o sundrstandng hr s rady

d opn and ll old. hs ould to orgt that sh s at hart a noratvphosophr stckng ry to th classcal task o dstngushng good ro ad scnc. hus thr s a dstncton at ork that savs hr ro all sorts o onssncudng Dluz's. It coud cad "rsky constructon caus t s a spcctp o constructon that taks rsk as ts touchston. Snc ths s th pont that hardst to grasp n transrrng Stngrs ro rnch to Engsh t s ttr totak anothr cos look at th ays n hch hr sholth strks through th sc-ncs n th ost unxpctd ays

Lt us rr that th dstncton sh trs to ak s not thon tn tru and als statnts ut tn constructd and adly con-structd propostons proposton contrary to a statnt ncluds th orld na crtan stat and coud cad an vnt to us anothr ky Duzan concpthus a constructon s not a rprsntaton o th nd or ro th socty aouta thng an oct a attr o act ut th ngagnt o a crtan typ o ord n

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a cerai pe o coecive Cosrucivis or Segers is o a ord ha oudhave a ao I is o or isace he opposie o reais. hus cosrucivisis he opposie o a pair o posiios he i oes oaied aer he ircaio ashiehead says eee orld ad ord I his ay socia cosrucio is o abranch o cosrucivis u he denegaton o ay cosruco a deegao ashorough as ha o reais phiosophers So e do o have o choose eee reaisad socia cosrucio ecause e should ry o iagie soe sor o ixup eee he o ilaed posiios. Raher e have o decide eee o phiosophiesoe i hich cosruco ad reai are opposie ad aoher i hich cosruc-ig ad realizig are soous

his is hy o ake her poi cearer Segers adds o he oio o cosrucio ha o risk. here are cosrucios here eiher he ordor he ord eiher he cosos or he scieiss ake ay risk hese are adlycosruced proposiios ad should e eeded ou o sciece ad sociey; ha ishey are o CC cosopoiicay correc) o aer ho PC hey appear O heoher had here exis proposiios here he orld ad he scieiss are oh arisk hose are e cosruced ha is reai cosrucig reai akig ad heyshoud e icuded i sciece ad socie; ha is hey are CC o aer ho poi-icay icorrec hey ay appear o e Isaee Segers's had his risk co-srucivis is a exreely poer dearcaio crierio ecause i srikes a rsuexpecedly akg her as e as her readers) ake a lo o risks I ysel earay scars ecause ie ad agai I have ee oo clusy o predic here he shi-oeh i reak up y haeared argues Woe re ad dagerous higsis a expressio ha oud icely Segers's hadlig o her ay rieds

ill e cear i readig e arices i his ook ay exapesare oered o his dagerous rial y ire e she as orkig ih PrigogieSegers used her ooogica ouchsoe o reder uscieiic a he discipliesha desigaed ha ie coud e oe o he esseial eares proposed o he.hrough picay Segersia uexpeced coecos she he ega o ok ihLo Cherok a asciag psychiaris ivg i Paris ho used hosis i his her-apy despie he discouao o ha echiue y reud ad his ay disciples

Nohig ore cleary deosraes he origiai o her ouchsoe ha coparig he eecs o ha sae pricipe o physics ad o psychiar Oe coud ex-pec ha he appicaio o ay dearcao crierio i rue pchoaaysis ouo sciece his is aer a ha Karl Popper had doe Maye u he i shoudceraiy rue hyposis ou as e! ha coud e said o a crierio ha kcks reversie physics ad sciesic psychoaaysis ou o sciece ad ha keeps ie


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depede chemsy chaoc physcs ad also hyposs o he gh sde o hebode? Thee mus be a deep aw Seges's demacao ceo

Ths howeve s o he case we oow how wha I call hesky cosuco woks.1 The pcple o suce easo cao be suce keeps evesb ad leaves evesbly ou o he pcue. Feuda psy-choaalyss es o mae he causal pcpe o suce easo by behavg lkea scece bu a scece coceved he way ha has o ye apped he Sege-

sa pcpe! Feud eed by he cedby as ad complace eaco o hspaes o hs uece hough hposs decded o mae "had scece admake sue ha he was o he cause o behavos hs paes He poeced hm-se by he amous pheomeo o aseece ad om he o dea wh paeshough a pued aalyss ha ed o apply quaschemcal pocedues o he "lab-oaoy o he couch. a s he esul o hs Feuda "w o scece?2 Theelmao o uece om psychay he same way ha he aow o me hasbee elmaed om physcs.3 Yes psychoaayss s a scece bu ha sel s

o eough o a guaaee o be kep o boad sce evesble physcs has beehow ou o beg exacy as badly cosuced! The same pcpe skes wcewh he oppose esu: oe shoud o emae om a dscple wha cosuess ma souce o uceaes ad sk evesble me he case o ohumapheomea suscepb o uece he case o huma pheomea

The paadoxcal esu o he wok o Seges wh Cheok she same as ha o he eae wok wh Pgoge he queso s o o decdewha s scec ad wha s o ha s o demacae scece om oscece bu

o dsgsh wh he sceces o bee wh he cosmopolcs he pocedueshough whch he scess expec o u as much sk as he subjecs. Paadox-cally s o because has oolshly ed o ea humas lke ohumas ha

psychoaalyss as he Segesa es s exacly o he oppose easo: psycho-aayss als because eas humas lke o had scess woud dae eag heobjecs ha s whou gvg hem a chace o edee o he ow ems wha s o be eogaed by scece Thee s o couse a deece bu s o heace oe ha dsgushed a objecve mae o ac ha ca easy be maseed

om a huma sou ha would ess ay aemp a masey.4 The deece comesom he ae essace o ohumas o be ake up by scece he evesb- o me emag o Seges he paadgmac example wheeas humas ae

cedby compace behavg oo easy as hey had bee maseed by he sc-ess ams ad goals. Ths was Feud's ea "scec dscove whch uou-aely he aed o see because o hs wogheaded dea o wha was a scece I

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Stenges's ta the pesence o absence o the tappngs o scence poves nothngat a one s dang enough to take the test one shoud be eady to demonstatenstead that the questons ased by one's expement ae at sk o beng edenedby the phenomena mobzed by te laboato o by the theo

t ooks supecally emnscent o Poppe's ascaton cteon one has ony to see whch scences t thows out and whch one t keeps onboad to measue the complete deence beteen the to epstemologes Poppe's

touchstone s as good as a whte coat t s easy to don but t does not make a scentstout o the one who weas t On the othe hand Stenges's cteon sees the sheepthough the wol's coat Evolutona theo that o Goud's Wndel e onstanc5 s kept ae Stenges's ta because t ts exacty he equements evespeces oces the natal hstoan to take as much sk to account o ts evoutonthough an nnovatve om o naaton as t took the speces to suve. HowevePoppe's azo excses Dawnsm out o scence togethe wth Maxsm hstoand Feudansm on the ve slm petext that t cannot be put to the test But

whch test? The one whee scentsts maste a te nputs and outputs and eave theobjects no othe eedom than the ablt to say "yea and "nay t s a vey pooscence n whch thngs have no moe to say than the whte and black pawns n agame o Maste Mnd and whee the wld magnaton o the scentst does all theest o the talkng

Fotunately o scence thee ae endess statons n whch scentsts can be le voceless by the wld magnaton o thngs poposng to them whatto say Ausngly enough ascaton msses these stuatons as well and honos ake

mtatons wth the Meda o Scence Fo nstance Poppe's cteon w keep Staney Mgam's mpeccaby ased expements snce t puts to the test the wld hy-pothess o an nnate obedence to authot among Aecan students16 hat coudbe moe scentc than ths most amous expement n psychoog? Has Mlgamnot al the contols equed? Has t not ncluded al the bnd tests? Hs expementshoweve ae ton apat when Stenges's cteon s appled snce t dealy ts hecase o a bad constucton whee nothng can be eaned om the stdents subjectedto Mlgam's powe and whee Mgam does not even lean the ony esson he coud

daw om ths dsastous expement that he s the only totue n town whosemad powe ove subjects shoud be nteogated. Oh yes thee s a bnd test n-deed but the bnd s not the one you woud thnk Ths lesson can be dawn on anndente numbe o expements pubshed n excellent jounals al equpped wtheeees and act ndes


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x J x

he bgge deece beee Poppe' ad Sege' ceaede omewhee ee hough Poppe' acao mpe a compee powe ohe ce hemeve o o ou he ow veo wa made o ha o po-ec ce aga ay ecoachme om ocey. O he ohe had Sege'hbboeh aow he o ook eveywhee o he codo whee powe cou-ebaaced by he veo o hoe who ae aked abou Mo o he me hmea o coue geg ou o cece h ex om he caca queo o ep-

emoogy w be made cea he a pa o h book. Poppe ema a adoaphoophe o cece ad o may dcpe a h eye becaue heyook upcouy coe o he hobe quadae o poca e whee ohg cabe aey aed huma mae havg gea dcuy eem mg hepeece he oum o "yea ad "ay ocey ha o may eeme be-caue o a ocey he eemy o cece. Poppe' phoophy o cecemgh have bee we adued o he poca ak o he 0 bu Sege' ama udeadg how we houd ve ow wh ad whou he m o cece

popeo houd ay poppe? Th mea ha oe ha o eave he coe ocece o ee how he ame couco coud be apped o coecve ua-o ha have oe o he eaue o cec ac ad whee oehee heame demma ca be obeved

How doe h ecod ak wok? Remembe ha abee Sege uuecedby how much eembace a pacce ha wh cece coceved a Poppeaway She kow om he de ad h why o mpoa o he o be a

hoough eaha he queo o o much how you ca mmc a c-ece ( ha become o eay o ae o cheap ha eve ocoog ca do !) buhow much k oe ca ake aowg oe' wod o be moded by he wod.h mea ha a pacce whch o he ace o ook compeey ucec ucha hypo dug addco ecoogca poc ehopychay o DS paegoup may mae eaue ha ede hem coe o ome o he mo abac

ad dag had cece. Th whee abee Sege w appea he mo co-ovea ad pobaby he mo oga he Ameca coex o hghe upe-

o ad owy poc. dcuy ae o me a h ucue howeve Theace aembed hee ae o dog uce o he mpoace o h ecodapec o he comopoc. Lke may o he poca gh o Deeuze ad Gua-a hey ema agey ueced by a cocepo o ewg adcam ha hao ye bee eewed a ocey a cece ha bee h a cae o o peak o

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an "unequal developmen of a heo In he la pa of h book, Senge hano done fo powe, oce, and domnaon he job of edemacaon ha he hadone o had cence n he eale econ She ele oo heavly on he ool of o-cal ho ha can be aken off he hef.

Bu he decon n whch he ha been headng nce hee ace wee wen eem o me clea enough and y vndcae he nenon ofpaccng a genune comopoc ha wl ke he knowedgealk and he powe-

alk a well I hu o he moe ecen wok ha one ha o n o how he mpo of he hbboleh. In gong fom he laboao of chem o he plafomof poc, Iabee Senge doe no o decde whch cence pocally co-ec, whch polc deologcally ound She doe no ee o oce becaue hehad been dapponed by cence a do o many cque of een "hanaocacy. Radcal houd be eady o be moe fecely oed ou on he plank by heame demacaon ceon a whecoa phyc a he bench. Senge doe noappeal fom he m of an objecve cence o he paon of adca poc he

uhely o ou he objec of cen and he paon of mlan. In eveycae, and a eve juncue, he eman unmpeed by domnaon, no mae f come fom he ank of cece o fom he ank of ocal powe In boh, heook fo he ouce of nvenon ha have been med

If cen ae uped by he way he demacae good c-ence fom bad, he many people who, fom he ank of femnm, ecoogy, and ef-m, hnk he he ay houd bace hemelve fo ome had leon, moe exacly, fom he eon he keep dawng fom had cence. Gong om cence o

polc no, fo he, gong fom ngen conan o moe elaxed one, bukeepng exacy he ame objecve wh a oal ndffeence o wha cence andwha ocey. Domnaon n poc ha many of he ame ngeden ha nhe laboao, ha , he nab o aow he peope one dea wh any chance oedefne he uaon n he own em If h pncpe ubve many dcplnefom he nde, ubve even moe pocal and fom he oude, and epe-cally o many of he "andpon poc whee he oucome of he anay en-ey deemned fom he a by he poon of he peake If Mlgam aken

a he emblemac bad expemene, no gvng he uden he oung a chanceo become oue, wha hould be ad of hoe houand of adca ac wheehe hng o be udedcence, a, nuon, medcnehave no chance oay anyhng ohe han ha hey have been maked by he domnaon of whemae capa? Lke mo ccal hnkng, hey epoduce exacly a he oucomeha wa expeced fom he begnnng, and f hey have o be ejeced, no be

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x x x

cause they ae political and not because they ae not scientic enough but siplybecause the wite incued no isk in being kcked out o his o he standpoint inwiting the The application o Stenges's citeion on "cultual stdies eainsto be seen but it will be even oe entetaining than what it did at the bench. Theequation is sipe although vey had to cay out no isk no good constuctionno invention thus no good science and no good politics eithe. Such is the stpank o a paty that does not have any ebes yet!

Stenges's equest to be cosopoiticay coect cuts both ways and cuts had. n the obscue ights o the science was one can saey pedict shewi be seen as a taito to all the caps not because she is "in the idde no oneis ess o a iddewoan than he no one is less an adept o the goden ean! but because she iposes on a potagonists a citeion that they wi o thei ut-ost to escape. though this book appeas in a seies caled "Theoies Out oBounds no theoy is oe binding than Stenges's new deacation citeion.Having oten tied to escape its binding stength only to ind yse oced to use it

again it is a geat pleasue (and say it with soe gee) to iagine that nglish-speaking eades ae now to be eneshed in this ost daing entepise that we inthe Fencheading wold had to take into account o so long t is y hope thatthey ill lean oe than did (this is unikely) in those twenty yeas when tiedto pot o he aveous "habits o thoughts and also y hope that they willbe oced even oe than was (this is oe unikey) to odi thei deinition ohad science and o adica politics by using Stenges's shibboeth and pushing iteveywheeeven against he i needs be!

ewr

1 dtt ud-Vt d St Hst fChems (Cmd HdUvt P 1996.

To t d St Mecns etse (P mpcu d p od199.

. Po d St La nuvellealance, mam01hse de la scence (P d YoGmd/tm 1979; Po d

St Entre e ems et tet Fd1988.

4 St L nventn des scences mdees(P Dcouvt 1993 St d.L'et tehead (P V 199.

5 St Csmpltues, vo 1 La eedes scences (P Dcouvt d mpud p od 1996 vo 2 L'nventn de la

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maique puvir et ra (ari La Douerte and LeEpheur de pener en rond 996)

6. They hae he ae difulty with another ofStenger earlier felow traeer ee ihe SerreCverati Siee, Culture, a ime with BruLatur (Ann ror Unierity of ihigan re 199).

7 The "huor of truth intead of laour de la rit he loe of truth The pun unfortnately doe notwork in Englih

For anoher attept at ridging he gap eteeniene die and noratie queton ee the noion

of epitei irte deeloped y Adrian Cuin in"Content Eodient and O jetiity The Theory ofCogntie Trail Mi o . 101, no. 0 992)65188.

9 eorge Lakoff Wme Fire a Dageru higat Categrie Reveal abut the Mi (ChiagoUnierity of Chago re 1987).

10 Lon Chertok Lhype, bleure ariique (ariLaoratoire Delagrange 1990) Lon Chertok andIaelle Stenger Le ur et la rai. L hype e queti

e Laviier Laa ari ayot 1989) Lon Chertokaele Stenger and Didier ille Mmire urique (ari La Douerte 1990)

11 For another appliation of thi prinipe onethology ee the enterprie of another Belgianphioopher a olleage of Stenger Viniane Depretaiae ue trie hlgique ari Le Epheurde pener en rond 1996).

12. aelle Stenger La vlt e faire iee (ari LeEpheur de pener en rond 1992).

1B It i preiely thi inuene that Toie Nathan adent of eorge Deereu and a loe aoiate ofStenger ha een reintroduing into ery riky inialproedure ee Toie Nathan Liuee qui gurit(ari diion OdileJao 199).

14 Thi i the oure of another iundertanding thitie with he tenant of he hereneuti tradition who eliee hat eaue phioopher like Stenger Deleue

or Serre are attaking ien they ring water totheir il and will help the defend the ujet againtthe tranny of the ojet Quite he oppoite. Theujet ha to e treated they propoe at eat a well ahe oet t i the ojet of iene who doe the jo inthe hereneuti irle not the huan uet alwayready to iitate a ahine or what he or he iaginethe ahine to e

15 Stephen Jay oud Wel Le he Burge Shalea the ature fHit New York W W Norton989)

16 Stanley ilgra Obeiee t uthri

Experimetal View (New York Harper Torhook974)

17 n hi way he i een frther fro ihelFouaut faou knowedge/power han otraditional epiteology and thi oer till anotheroure of poile ireading in an gloerianontet rongy inuened y a oialized erion ofFouault


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I

D

S c i e n c e a n d C o m p l e x i t y


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N E


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plexit,: Fad?

O SO M yeas the theme o complexty has played a ambguous ole n ds-couses on scece. It allows one both to deend scence aganst the chage o "e-ductonsm and at the same tme to evsage sceces conquest o what utl nowhad escaped t. Fo example what s meant by the statement: "The ba s complex?Ths expesso ca ust as easly gue a attack aganst those who seek to ex-

plan the ban by the smple eements o whch t s composed the neuos as nan ntoducto to the noto o complext. n the st case the wod "complexts used to wad o an opeato o captue the secod t announces ts possblt

The "dscovey o complext s oten spoke o as a dstn-gushg eatue o the cuet ea O the othe hand as soon as the tem "com-plext s employed oe heas okes ad peoatve emaks about the oton whch

s dsmssed as a meda nvento havg o eal meang. These two tpes o eac-tos whch ted to enoce oe anothe dcate om the outset the ate o ou

poblemA st pot to emphasze: complext whethe denouced as a

dveso o anounced as scence's edempto belongs to a dscouse about sc-ence Admttedly the adectve "complex has appeaed n a ceta umbe o ds-cplnes patculaly n mathematcs ad physcs Ad those who talk about "thedscovey o complext oten ee to oe o aothe o these dscples How


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eve none o hese eeences s in se sucien o just he heses ha hey l-lustae. hen physiciss constuced he omasm o quantm mechanics i couldbe sad ha a pobem was imposed on hem whehe hey had oeseen i seachedo i o simpy acceped i. The situaion is much less cea egadng "complexiy. One canno hee desgnae he poblematic node tha would "oce hosewho speak o i o ecognze a siaion as "compex e aone daw aeachingconclusions on ha basis.

n ohe wods the puave "discovey o complexit desig-naes somehing aogehe deen o the pe o episode ha n collecive mem-o punctaes he hsoy o ceain scences. The usual pogession impes a pas-sge om a sae o gnoance o a sae o knowedge o the sudden appeaance oan unexpeced pobem ha compeely disups he anicipaions o a science Bu he possibilit ha compext has been " discoveed s o be aken seously heissue s no he imposion o a quesion bu he groing aareness o a problem an"awaeness ha may have been povoked bu was no mposed and hus can easily

be dened by hose who a o see he poin o .I i is indeed ai o say ha hee has been a gowing awaeness

o a poblem s conex is sngualy ambiguous. In ac he s hng ha mighske someone ineesed in he discouse on compexit is he evva o a knd oclasscal scenism ha seems o happen is ha hemes o wod css and a ques-tioning o he pesupposions tha allowed us o undeesimae the ciss o o hnko i as epphenomena ae inewoven with he hemes o a "new aionality Ths

s an eminenly classical scenism in ha he enewa o he scientc knowedge

ha was initay ciiqued is healded as a solution o ehcopolica poblems.One migh aso ake as a case n poin he gand cosmicsocial

"escoes ha depic he pogessive complexicaion o he wod om he bgbang o he pobems o conempoa societ Cona o the epesenatons o

nineeenhcenu postivism a book ike Hube Reevess Atoms o Silence An Eploration o Cosmic Evolution1 no longe emphasizes eassuingy inea pogess whcompexcaon comes nsabiity csis dieentaton caasophes and impassesBu he esco o cosmic complexcaion is nevetheess eassung n he same way

ha posvis epesenaions wee in ha i pesens ise as a heoy in ha i in-scibes the oveaching quesons o ou ea n a naatve ame ha connecs hem

o cises o mae and he genesis o e.This way o using he noion o complext o compexcaion

migh n ise povide sucien gounds o condemn the noions o i a pioithe discouse on compext has meanng ha meanng canno be homogeneous o


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4 , 5

the scence t ctques. The vson o a copex wod pe se cannot be substtutedo anothe scentc vson o the wod t s the noton o a vson o the wold,o the pont o vew o whch a genea and unng dscouse can be hed, thatn one way o anothe ust be caled nto queston. Fang that, t s cetanly pos-sbe to coent on the nteest o new tpes o oalzaton, on new physca andatheatcal objects, on new ethods o descpton that have been descbed as"coplex; t s also possbe to oesee that these new odes o questonng wll

have eects n othe doans o knowledge But t s not possbe to speak o a "ds-covey o copexty, n the sense that ths would tanslate not ony nto an en-ageent but nto a tansoaton o the ed o scentc knowedges.

Unde such condtons, to be nteested n the queston o co-plexty s not a neuta actvty. The east sk appoach woud cetanly be to ltonesel to an atttude o denuncaton as we have seen, ths appoach has sold a-guents n ts avo. It s easy to ase the suspcon, and even to deonstate, that,behnd the good ntentons and geneous declaatons, the elatons beteen de-

ent knowedges ean heachca, oaded wth gnoance and even contept. Easyctque, howeve, has always had a cetan stety naely, ts etenal conatono the possblty and necesst o antanng an atttude o esee and ony nthe ace o scentc aogance. The ssue we wl ase hee s oe dcult and sCan we attbute a genea applcabt to the thee o coplexty wthout autho-zng geneazng petensons? Can we use what pesent theselves today as "co-pex objects to undene the genea pobles they ase, athe than e patcu-la odels o soluton they detene?

Releance and Risk

I the noton ocopexty ust have a geneal beang on the eoes and/o pac-tces o the contepoay scences, t needs to have a eanng that s not o theoutset dpendent on a patcula dscplne.

It sees to e that the thee o copexty s potentaly nterestng, and pehaps wothy o suvvng copozng usage, t s not so uch be-cause t delneates the chaactestcs o a "new scence that we wee pevousy

unable to ane, but athe because t ekndles and hghlghts what s wthout doubtthe ost genunely ogna aspect o what s caled "oden scence As JeanMacLyLebond ends us, the nton o scentc thought has less to do wth ts"tuth than wth ts astrngent ects the way t stops thought omjust turnng n sesatng cres.2 The thee o coplexty aows the uncouplng o two densonsthat ae oten nextcably assocated n dscouses o o aganst the scences the

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powe o he aalycal appoach ad he peempo judgmes ha appeas o

auhoze; ad "scetc aoalt ad the ealess poducto o "scec vewso he wold

I hk ha hs ucouplg shapes he sese o a em tha sa the hea o scetc pactces bu tha eds o dsappea publc dscouseso scee tha o relevance. ha s oewohy abou "elevace s ha desg-aes a elatoal poblem. Oe speaks o a eleva queso whe sops thoughom ug ccles ad coceaes the aeo o he sgula o a ob-jec o stato. Alhough elevace s ceal o he eecve pactces o the ex-pemetal sceces he publc veso oe bols dow o objecve uh oaba decso o objecve uh whe he queso s jused by the objec sel ad o abay decso whe ees o he use o a sume o expe-meal appaats whose choce s o othewse commeed o I he s case theespose appeas o be "dcaed by eal. I he secod appeas o be mposedby he allpowel caegoes o whch the vesgatve sume s beae. Rele-vace desgaes o he coa a subjec ha s ehe abse o allpowel

ha ae he "gh quesos? ha s the "eleva po ovew? Ths s he dameal questo o expemeal scece.

Le's ake the mos classc exaple Galeo's theo o allgbodes Ths heo ealed a wage o ealt he sese ha deemed a p-o wha he obsevable all would be cosdeed sgca ad wha should bejudged a sgca petubao. I hs case, he heo mples a cocepalsepaao betee he all as would occu a vacuum ad aspecs ha ae edo a cto. Ths ve sepaao costes a heoecal decsowhch he

Asoelas should be oed judged admssble. I Asoela physcs allgas a cocee moveme mpled a. Ths heoecal decso s a the same me apaccal oe. I gudes the pocess o pepaao ad expemeao: he "phe-omeo s echcally edeed " he laboaoy ad pued o he exepossble o eveyhg assmlable o ose. I s a hs po ha he wage pays oo s los. I pays o he pedctos ha he heo allows o be cosuced aecohee wh expemes o he pued sysem coduced accodace wth hetheoetcal cea

Expemeao ths coex s a risky pocess I assumestha he pheomeo as solaed ad ewoked ude laboaoy codos s es-seally the same as he oe oud "aue. The oo o "scec vew o thewold eds o udeesmae hs sk pesupposg ha a queso eleva cea expemeal codos wll ema eleva ad hus ca seve as a model

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7

o te geneaization o tat paticua wodview's coesponding mode o distinguising beteen wat is signicant and wat is insignicant.

It is in tis amewok tat te question o compexity takes onpecise meaning Tis question comes to te oe wen te eevance o a simpemode becomes an issue aong wit te eevance o te poongation o te pocessautoized by te mode to penomena subsequenty udged "compicated but notintinsicay dieent Tus te question o eevance and tat o eductionism ae

connected Te eductionist opeation is by denition an opeation o poonga-tion. It is maked by two kinds o amation: "suc a penomenon is on . . . (tismeans tat te simpe mode is abe to dene te questions eevant to its subect);"i we wee moe pecise obsees i we ad moe knowedge moe metods ocacuation moe acts we coud Tese to amations ae sometimes com-petey ustied At oe times tey pesuppose a passage to te imit te citicanatue o wic is indicated by te question o compexity

It soud be empasized tat te question o compexity as Iave eaboated it is tuy a poduct o te anaytica spiit. Anaysis and eduction-ism ae too oten umped togete in te same citique But as we wi see it isquite possibe o te anaytica metod to diecty contadict te geneaization oeductionism. Fa om entaiing te idea o a moe simpe wod anaysis can eadto te concusion tat we do not know wat a being is capabe o. One way o an-ote, eductionism aways ends up " . is ony ; te anaytica metod on teote and may ead to "tis . . . but in ote cicumstances tat . . . o yet againtat .

Let's take an exampe One speaks o compexity wit espect to"stange "caotic3 o "acta attactos. An attacto is a stationay state oegime towad wic an evoution descibed by a wedetemined system o equa-tions eads. Usuay an attacto is stabe dieent sets o dieent initia condi-tions detemine an evoution towad te same attacto (o exampe a state o temodynamic equiibium te immobie state o a ea penduum om wic one asnot abstacted iction; o a "imit cyce) Once tis attacto as been eaced tesystem wi no onge spontaneousy depat om it uctuations aside "Stange attactos on te ote and do not ave tis popety o stabiity Two neigboinginitia conditions can geneate vey dieent evoutions. Te sigtest petbationcan pus te system om one egime into a vey dieent one. Instead o stabiiz-ing into a pedictabe and wedetemined state te system wandes beteen possibiities; in ote wods atoug govened by deteministic equations it adoptsan aeatoy beavio

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The possbly o epeseg a observable pheomeohough deemsc equaos ha lk s dee deemaos a coheemae s usually assmlaed o a so o emus ad quem Bu whe a sysem sdeed as havg a sage aaco he equaos ha epese he sysem doo ease he uceay o s behavo Covesely may be possble o dee-me a appaely aleaory sees o oucomes could be poduced by a sysem oequaos o sage aacos ad also o deeme he mmal umbe o va

ables hose equaos would lkwhou beg able o de he vaables ove he hypohecal decao o he sysem.decao loses s elevace hee sce does o eable

he pedco o obsevaos ad obsevaos do o eable o be cosuced.The queso he ases as o wha s mea by "udesadg a sem o hs kdFo example hee s o doub ha udesadg a meeoologcal pheomeo"volves he gas laws because amosphec vaaos ae lked o chages pes-sue ad empeaue Bu ha "volveme becomes poblemac o he exeha he oo o sage aacos s eleva o meeoologcal pheomea Thss because he egulay o he behavo o gases expemeal suoudgs doeso guaaee he egula o he behavo hey help deeme he amosphee.The decomposo o he pheomeo o smple pheomea does o eces-saly geeae rlvant quesos. The de o he "meeoologcal objec ologe ows om ohe moe " dameal sceces bu s deed as singula

Ths s a s example o wha ca be called a complex suaohe caogaphy o kowledges ad poblems loses s "ee shape sg om aelavely smple bu dameal "law o ("laws) o s applcao ceasglycomplcaed suaos. The ee s a heachcal epeseao passg om hedameal "ruk o he es bach should deally pose echcally compl-caed quesos bu o dameal oes. pacce goes whou sayg hakowledge o he "baches cludes a cocepo o he uk o a leas o heway o pass om he uk o he baches (o example he quaum mechacal"explaao o he popees o chemcal bodes would have bee eely mpos-sble whou po kowledge o he classcao accodg o Medeleyev's able).The shed opeao howeve leaves ew races o hs. To udesad s o ude-sad how he uk geeaes he baches ad ha s wha s leaed ad as-med by specalss.

Thus "sage aacos ae o a model bu ahe a quesomak o a alam bell. They sgal ha he dcul o a opeao o passagemay o be due o a lack o kowledge a complee omulao o he poblem,

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o the enomous compcaton o the phenomenon but may esde nstead n ntnsc easons that no oeseeabe pogess coud gansay. They sgna that n cetan cases moe powe computes and moe numeous and pecse measues coudwe pove useess At the same tme they obge us to thnk o the map o pobemsas an account o oca expoaton o dscovees o possbtes o passage that povenothng beyond themseves that authoze nethe geneazaton no method.

Let's take a second exampe ths tme concenng the ve denton o a system accodng to ts egme o actvty.

Physcochemca stems nvove bons and bons o moecues n nteacton A macoscopc state dened by a stabe pessue o tempeatues n act the esut o a ggantc numbe o moecua events that aveage each otheout sma uctatons asde The eatons beteen pessue tempeatue chemca composton and so on epesent not ony what we can know about the systembut aso evethng that s eevant to t at equbum. They aow us to oesee howa state w be tansomed the vaue o one o t paametes s moded Nowthe udgment that dstngushes between what s eevant and what s nsgncant

cannot be poonged wthout pecautons t depends on the stabt o nstabto the macoscopc state n eaton to the uctuatons

Fa om equbum uctuatons may cease to be nose nstead becomng actos that pay a oe n changng the macoscopc egme o a system Futhemoe the aomequbum physcochemca systems that ya P-gogne baptzed "dsspatve stuctues exbt anothe new popet. t s not ony"moecua nose the uctatons that may "take on meanng but aso cetandetas o the "conto vaabes that coespond to the expementa denton o

the system unde study (pessue voume tempeatue ow o eagents . .) Foexampe athough gavtaton has no obseabe eect on chemca systems at equbum o nea to equbum a om equbum ts eect can be amped sothat t has macoscopc consequences. The system has become snsitiv to gavta-ton Smay t has been shown that a dsspatve stuctue ed by chemca owsthat ae not peecty constant n tme but sghty egua has access to new tpeso stuctuaton. othe wods t s th coctiv rgim o activi that decdes whats nsgncant nose and what must be taken nto account We do not know a po

what a chemca popuaton can do and we can no onge te once and o a thedeence beteen what we must take nto account and what we can gnoe.5 Notce that ths s aso the esson o the mathematcs o catastophe theoy ony oneknows a the catastophes to whch a system s susceptbe can one dene e math-ematca beng that t epesents By tustng n appeaances and ogettng the sk

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is enails o e meod we can be compleely misaken even in e ve deni-ion o e sysem we ae dealing wi

Complicated and Comple

Le's en o e conas beween complexi and complicaion Te eeenceso gods and demons a populae pysics exs indicae a judgmen in ems o complication. Laplace's demon allows one ojug penomena a appaenly equie apobabili eamen. we wee his demon we could undesand a complicaedand appaenly aleao penomenon in ems o deeminisic laws as in e caseo e sola sysem. Similaly Maxwell's demon allows judgmens o be made abouievesible penomena we wee capable o manipulang individual moleculeswe could "go beyond ievesibili imposing an evoluion a moves a sysemaway om is nal aaco and eceaes "ievesibly leveled dieences. n isscenaio pobabili and ievesibili ee o e complicat eal wih wic weae dealing and o e appoxmaions a limi us bu wic can neveelessbe idenied by eeence o e capaciies o ou demonic ale ego Fo examplei is said a ievesibiliy does no belong o e "objctiv u o a penomenon bu is only elaive o us. Deined in is way e eeence o "complicaionimplies a moe o less implici dualism ha enails e ejecion and enclosue wiine domain o "nonscienic o "simply subjecive o anying a canno be e-duced o e canon o e "simple model.

Te quesion o complexi aises wen e elaion o simila-i epesened by e opeaon o polongaion beeen us and is ale ego sso pose poblems. Tis appens in e case o "sange aacos due o ei sen-siivi o iniial condiions: e sliges peubaion as inodinae consequences.A demon a undesood and could conol wi posiively innie pecision asysem caaceized by suc an aaco could obviously deal wi i as jus an-oe sysem. Fo e demn e sysem would be deeminisic as ae e equa-ions a descibe i. Howeve is is eeence sill elevan? e ae no acallysepaaed om e demon by a quaniave lack (we obseve and manipulae lsswl bu by a qualiaive dieence as long as ou obseaions and manipulaionsdo no ave a strict innie pecision we ae dealing wi a sysem wi nondee-minisc beaio.

Te siuaion is simila o he unsable sysems now sdied bymecanics Te deeminisc and evesible ajeco a we can calculae o simpl sysems (o bodies in ineacion) would equie o unsable sysems a modeo knowledge ha would only make sense o e One wo knew e posiions and

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speeds o the ettes teacto wth a te pecso (a te umbeo decmals).6 That beg the case s t elevat to exted to ustable dyamc sys-tems the deal o kowledge epeseted by a detemstc ad evesble taec-toy? Should we udge as a smple appoxmato the pobablty teatmet that wehav to apply to ustable dyamc systems that s, udge t the ame o a kowl-edge that o tsc ad o cotget easos we wll eve have?

I Entr cristal t la fum, He Atla also lks complextywth lack o omato.7 Fo Atla, a complcated system s a system whose stuc-tue ad pcples o ctog ae udestood, ad pcple wth eoughtme ad moey, othg would pevet us om havg comlete kowledge. Othe othe had, a complex system would be oe o whch we had a global pecep-to tems o whch we could ame ad descbe t, all the whle kowg that twas ot udestood detal Fo example, to the extet that a lvg dvdual smmedately peceved as ogazed, we have to speak about t tems o complex-ty ad at the same tme tems o lack of infoation wheeas aced wth a "heapo molecules comg om a decomposg copse we wll see o complexty u-less, "o some easo we wated to epoduce ths dsogazed heap

Hee the whole ssue s whethe o ot Atla's global pecep-to, whch toduces the eal stuato o the obsee s take as abta, whthrth ia of a bing intrst in a lving boy athe tha a heap o molecules poceedsom a ulateal decso that has o coelate the oto o complexty. I weae teested the copse, wll we d e same teso betee what teests usad what we goe? Is the oto o complexty puely egatve, the sese that tteaches us othg, sce t pesupposes a huma teest impos o a ealty that stotally depedet o ths huma teest?

The lack o omato wth whch Atla tes to dee com-plex ca oly avod a puely subectvst eadg t ees to ou rlational sta-to: the omato that we possess about physcochemcal teactos ad that,by exteso allows us to dee the "dsogazed heap as "oly complcated hasmeag oly rlation to questos about systems that ae ought to eque apuely physcochemcal mode o udestadg Thee s tue "lack the case othe lvg because ths omato, ad thus s kd o elato, have, at least pa-tally lost the elevace they do ot allow us to gve meag to the questosthat make explct ou global pecepto o the "lvg body.

Let's etu to the questo o ustable dyamc systems adthe pobablstc descpto to whch they lmt us we who ae ot Laplace's de-mo. Ths pobablstc descpto allows us to make sese o a evesble behav

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io that is obsvabl that is, which cosponds to xpimntally lvant qustons.Fo th notion o complxt to hav a positiv maning psupposs that ths nwqustions a om now on th "ight qustions. Consquntly, th simpl modl,which allows a gnal judgmnt in tms o vsibl dtministic bhavio wouldh los its status o gnal modl, psntatv o dnamic systms in gnal(and d back to th On o whom dynamic systms a all alik), to bcom asingula modl suitabl only o stabl systms o which th dinc btn -

nit inomation and stictly innit inomation is without qualitativ impotanc.Likwis, th xistnc o stang attactos maks th class o nomal attactosand th judgmnts that thy authoiz appa tospctivly as singula. Hagin, th possibility o onc and o all idntiing th lvant contol vaiablso a physicochmical systm xpsss tospctivly th singulait o quilib-ium and natoquilibium situations.

H th noton o complxit is clos to that o emergence. Dan-gously clos, moov i as is otn th cas "emergence is undstood as th

appaanc o th unanalyzabl totality o a nw ntit that nds ilvant thintlligibilit o that which poducd it. n both cass, dont th "objctiv cat-gois tid to th simpl modl giv way to qualitative new qustions to catgoiso undstanding that imply intinsic poptis having no quivalnt in th simplmodl? W a so clos to th notion o mgncand so a. n both cass on"stats om a simpl situation, and on dscibs a qualitativ tansomation thatcosponds to th now poblmatc chaact o an opation o xtnsion o po-longation But th notion o mgnc implis a physical gnsis o th nw, whas

th notion o complxt would cospond to a conceptual gnsis concptually wa ootd in a tadition that has givn us accss to a simpl modl and dnd thtools that a appopiat o th cosponding systms. Th qualitativly nw qus-tons that vntually bcom possibl do not mg though complxication thyxpss th limitd chaact o th concptual tols that w appopiat o sin-gulaly simpl cass but that cannot b polongd with lvanc.

Notons such as mgnc o complxt a nothing apat omth intntions o thos who us thm. Th notion o mgnc has too otn st

down pohibitions: o xampl, that th whol is not quivalnt to th sum o itspats implis that th study o pats can tach us nothing about th whol, and -thmo that th spcialists o this whol hav th ight and libty to igno anymthod o appoach to thi objct that dos not spct its chaact o slsigni-ing totalit As o th notion o complxit it sts outproblems don't know a

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po what "sum o pats mans and ths poblm mpls that w cannot taund th ptxt that thy hav th sam "parts all th "sums accodng to thsam gnal modl.

The Compleity of the Liing

hav thus a bn mphaszng th "dscovy o complxty and thby hgh-lghtng an xampl wh th scntc appoach as layd th pncpal ol t s

scntsts who ask th qustons and complxty ass whn thy hav to accptthat t catgos o undstandng that gudd th xploatons a n qustonwhn th mann n whch thy pos th usons has tsl bcom poblmatBut th quston o comlxty als lads to that sngla catgoy o obcts thatmust b alld historical whth w a dang wth th lvng o th sots. nths cas th dcult asd by th usual scntc appoach wh gos om thsmpl to th complcatd s wll known gnal actos can hlp on tosp-tvly shd lght on th hstoy o a town but on cannot dduc that hstoy om

thos actos. "Complx obcts dsspat stutus atstophc obcts andstang attactos hav asd th hop o "btt modlatons o such cass. Butany local succss that ma com o such mdls would only sgn th dnta-ton o simpl aspcts o ths hstocal octs. H agan complty s not athoy an xpotabl gnal modl. Th "comlx lsson o dsspatv stuctuss not th appaanc o cohnt collctv bavos but ts gavtatonal actohat accodng to th ccumstancs an b sgnant o "cag vyhin.

On cannot spak o a "dscovy comp th spct to

hstocal obcts ndd th noton o compxty s usually cognd as almostconsttutv o th "lvng bct. Th qustio thn s o undstad hw ad atwhat pc th problm o complxty s o can b ntgatd wth th appoach oth bologst.

t s not a matt o dnyng that tan xpmntal qustonsconcng th lvng a "smpl ths s th cas o xampl wn t s a qus-ton o clang a physologcal laton hos logc plays an ssntal ol n thstabl o a lvg bhav n ths cas sgncantly th xpmntal quston x

psss an ntnsc nalty o th laton n quston Gvn t ncton o th mus-cl ow s ths ncton alzd? Gvn th ncton o tansmsson o th nuonhow and n what custancs dos t tansmt? And so oth. H th qustonso xpmnts a stablzd by th vy rol that thy attbut to th obcts nth ogansm Fom th momnt bologsts hav undstood whch ncton

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solves whch poble, they can ask theselves how the poble s n act esolved.But, even when these "sple questons ae dealt wth, they gve se to anothe tpeo poble the queston posed by the lvng s not sply the queston o knownghow t ealzes the deent nctons necessay to the suval o the ogans, butalso the queston o knowng how to undestand, at the phylogenetc leve as uchas at the ontogenetc level, the poducton o these nctons, the poducton omaning that expeentes subscbe to when they ask "how.

At ths double level, both phylogenetc and ontognetc, we en-counte a donant odel, based on the pa "splct/coplcaton. The hs-to o the lvng utations, selecton o the best "adaped), as well as the devel-opet o the lvng ndvdual, would ollow simpl pncples that would nevethelessgeneate apallngly coplcated hstoes. Ths s what s pled by Jacques Monodseak that what s tue o the bactea s tue o the elehant, and ts plctcoelate, o whch hs hanc an Ncssity gves the theoetcal justcaton:9 thebacteia s the sple odel that gves eanng to the set o nstuents that wll

enable us to undestand the elephant (o an).Hee agan, the poble s that o epesentatveness . s the ob-

ject "bactea a sngula bodelne case, o athe, s t epesentatve o the lvng?n patcula, does the act that bactea do not develop wth a double consequencethat consttutes the as pvleged expeental objects the study n vto pesentso pobles, snce the only queston s to know whethe o not the suoundngscontan the nuttve poducts necessa o the ultplcaton the elatons be-teen genetc nstuctons and etabolc peoance ae hee open to dect ge-

netcbochecal exploatonpoduce an obstacle to the denton as the oyaload o ntellgblt o oganss that have an ebyon developent?

hanc an Ncssity s an potant book n that t lnks n anexplct way the thess o olecula bolog concenng the lvng to ths poble oepesentatveness Both the concepton o ontogeness and that o phylogeness aeactally based on a cucal aaton lik th bactria evey lvng beng can be as-slated to a pocess o rvlation o the genetc poga that pocess s cetanlyabonably coplcated, but ts pncple s clea. As a esult, explanaton n bol-

og splts nto to essentally autonoous appoaches the coplcated desptono physcochecal pocesses that actalze the noatonal content o the genoe

and ende ossble the constucton and nctonng o the lvng and the ee-ence to a coplcated hstoy dung the couse o whch natual selectn ceatedand odeled ths content


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Ths dsbuo o he explaao has he paculay o co-ceag e sgulay o he lvg o a sgle mechasm: ha o aual selec-o. Hee, aual seleco s uquely esposble o he ac ha bochemcalpocesses esul he cosuo o a ogazed beg ha, appaely, s govee by a aly o surve ad epoduce. Recpocally, eleoomy, he appaealy o he lvg, s clealy oly a appeaace, bu expesses, a he level ohe lvg dvdual, he oly as d'e o wha bochemsy, physology, o

embyology descbe. I hs hpohess, he lvg would be egally omed bye selecve cosas o maeal abaly poduced by he muaos o geomesThus "eleoomy, he ac ha he lvg appears as "made ode o epo-duce, ds sel he same doma poso om he po o vew o he ex-plaao as he al causes voked by Asoela bology seleco gves o helvg s oly cocevable meag

Howeve, bacea ae o he epeseave model, aalseleco loses s sas o "cause e al aalyss Seleco plays o de-

eces amog ogasms, ad expesses sel a chage he geec composoo he populao. I he elao bewee geec omao ad ogasm s ohe "evelao o whch bacea povde he opeaoal model, he queso aseso kowg "how seleco ca evolve sucues ha ae geecally cosaedbu o geecally deemed

Ths s wha he Bsh bologs Coad Waddgo clealysaw whe he oduced he oo o "caalzao Waddgo sas wh hedea ha, as a geeal ule, he developme o he lvg ogasm should o be

hough o as a evelao bu as a cosuco ha egaes geec cosasad eacos wh he suoudgs. Selecve pessue ca, by a accumulao

o geec cosas, pogessvely caalze he pah o developme o ceaas. Gve hs, developme, insoar as it concerns these paths wll deed appea asa "evelao o he "omal cosequeces o he geec omao.

Hee aga, quesog he smple model mples a cea evesal o pespecve Usually, oe deves a kd o dameal oo o he lv-g om he seeoed, omaoally closed ogasm. I ollows ha, as hey

become moe complex, cea lvg oms acque, come wha may, cea possbles, appae o acual, o leag ad ope behavo. I addgo's pespec-ve, he specum becomes hozoal ae ha heachcal. Lvg ogasms,such as bacea, whch ca be cosdeed o a s appoxmao as closed o hem-selves (om a omaoal po o vew), le a oe exeme o hs hozoal

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spctum and on ath human bngs l at th oth. Admttdly th spctumcan only b actualzd pogssvly dung th cous of volutonahsto but

th poblm fo whch t consttuts a st of solutos s posd at th sam tm asth poblm of lf Th stotpng as wll as th opnnss has to b xpland.

Slctv pssu stablzng th dvlopmnt of ctan chaac-tstcs and accumulatng constants that favo th actualzaton submt such advlopmnt to a stotypd nom and thby cats a tmporali o a rptitiv

p th lvng ogansm pats th "spcs. h sk s takn n ths slctv nvnton o paths of dvlopmnt that can b fosn and poducd of dpvngth ontogntc pocss of ts snstv to ccumstancs and thus of th possbl-t of n nnovav and vntually ntstng spons to a modcaton of th su-oundngs Thfo t s ncssa to undstand that th dg of canalzatono on th conta of opnnss to ccumstancs and vaatons of th suoundngsonsttts fo ac phnotpc tat a wagr wth gad to th cologcal ccum-stancs that wll act th tu of th populaton

Ths wag stotpd o opn? ntals a consdaton ofwhat an ndvdual s wthn a populaton that s of what cologsts call th statgof a populaton. Fo xampl on mght say that ctan spcs of paast havmad th wag of stotpng a paast lvs ts lf cycl as s and n so dong tpats f t succds n poducng tslf a spcc bhavo. Th s not muchsns n thnkng that a paast lans o adapts On mght say that om th pontof vw of th statg of th populaton th ndvdual n ts cas s both "all and"nothng Th noton of a paast as an ndvdual s coxtnsv wth that of a

paast as a spcs; wthn ac gnaton only a tny popoton of paasts wllsuvv but th at of poducton s sucnt to nsu th suvval nddth polfaon of th populaton Slcton whch n ths cas s focous ap-pas as f f and allpowl ndlssly nckng ov th supb poductvautomaton constttd by ach ndvdual. On th oth hand a bd a chmpanzo a human bng larns. Th bhavo of th ndvdual dos not pat th spcssnc ach on consttuts a sngula constucton that ntgats gntc con-stants and th ccumstancs of a lf. Futhmo slctv pssu dos not

ba on th ndvdual but on th ndvdual n ts group n th stong sns t s nota quston of knowng how an ndvdual wll "tak advantag of ts goup (th th-ss of socobolog). Th goup has bcom th condton of possblt fo th nd-vdual whos dvlopmnt nvolvs potcton lanng and latons Th ndvdual now appas as a shaf of lnkd tmpoalts It cannot b undstoodsmply as a ncton of th "spcs mmo consttutd by ts gntc constants

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t must aso b udstood as th mmo o ts ow xpcs dd ut-maty o huma bgs as a dty mutp mmo o a th pasts whav htd ad to whch w a sstv H gtc costats k th o-to o spcs tak o a qut abstact mag compaso wth th oio oth coct dvdua.

The Rsk of Complety

H aga w com up agast th pobm o th vac o th pspctvTh vtua mts o th vac o dscptos mad tms o gt dt-matos o mo gay mad usg aboato mthods o soato a t th st stac td to doogca o humast chocs o to th pobm ot compato o th vg bct. Thy a tsc ad ducb bcaus thyov t dstctv tmpoaty o th obct studd Th pvg o th bac-tum th possbty o soatg ad studyg t vto xpsss th sgadtmg o payd ts cas by gtc costats oth cass soatos a dagous gam ad thos who bv thy ca pu th obcts act -tv actvy th sgcac o th obct thy obsv. a ga mao ca say that th quaspaaoac pcautos that (o xamp xpmtapsychoog) su th poducb chaact o xpmtato mphasz whatthough a mthodoogca coc o pucato ths obsatos wsh to -gct pcsy th act that th bhavos o th bgs ud study a ot pu-ab om th cotxt th a aayss om th omt that th xpm-tato s ot addssd to a stabshd at bt to a bing prouc by history ancapabl of histo t s addssd to somthg that s ctay ot a subct thhuma ss o th tm but s ot a pu obct th. No "mthodoogy ca d-cd th am o th "costats o sctcty to dy though th way whch t ds ts togato th act that to ayg dgs th ss o tstogato may aso pst pobms o that whch s togatd

Th tsc compxty o vg systms th act that thya th poduct o mutp hstos ato to whch a costats (gtcxpmta o othws) tak o magdos ot mpos a damatc mt oay possbty o xpmtato hat t mposs s th cssty o a tgtxpmtato whch assums th sk sposb o askg vat qustos. Ev qusto s a wag cocg what th togatd obct s sstvto ad o mthod s uta wth spct to ths pobm. Th pobm o vacdos ot ad to atoasm but to th vpst sk o "scg th vthg o s togatg

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In s suaon, o speak o e "dscove o complex mayappea paadoxcal. Indeed, he poble have jus descbed s no a new one Iwas undescoed by egheenhceny hnkes such as Ddeo and LchenbegI hee s an "even hee, does no elae o a geneal hso o knowledges, buo he concee hsoy o he scences and he noon o scenc dscplne as n-vened by he academc nsuons o he nneeenh ceny.

I have spoken o he sk ed o he double sepaaon, concep-ual and echncal, ha makes expemenaon possble Bu he nneeenh cenuynvened and pu no place a hd sepaaon, o whch pesenday scene owess chaacescs he socal sepaaon beeen hose who "know how o ecognzehe acs and hose who ae ncompeen and only have opnons To he dscplneundesood no n he smple sense o specalzed eseach bu n he sense ha hsspecalzaon mples a poson o auhoy ove he denon o "scenc ac hee coesponds he pa "smple/complcaed. Ths s he noon o an appoachha guaanees s own scency and denes he knowledges o whch s modelsseem unable o gve meanng, as "opnon, as allow land wang o he polongaon ha would nally endow wh meanng

In hs espec I ee o Judh Schlange's beaul book Pnsr

la bouch plin whch poses he poblem o he ascnaon exeed on hose whoanalyze and oganze by he poducs o he own dsncons She obseves hahs ascnaon s no oal Egypologss dsngush he objec, "EgpologzableEgyp, bu n he vey language hey employ, nourishing thir intrst or this Ept,hee coexs many ohe Egps, whch hey know have also ascnaed he Egpo he Geeks, he Egp o myhs, he Egp o novels and lms. Schlange aguesha s hs "culual memo, he knowledge ha ohe selevdences concenng ou objec have esed and sll exs, ha rintroucs th worl bwn us anourslvs pevenng us om lly adheng o heoecal selevdence. I s hsculual memoy, conveyed by wods o by he eecve coexsence o knowledges,ha manans he emembance o sk, gvng a meang and measue o elevance,and avong, n cean cases, heoecal nnovaon. Howeve, he noon o ds-plne as s used by moden eseach nsuons concdes wh he nvenon o aom o educaon o scenss ha endes hs "culal memo as empy andval as possble. Ths s demonsaed by Thomas Kuhn when he descbes howdscplnay paadgms ae nculcaed no appence specalss3

Que obvously, he pa "smple/complcaed has been sa-blzed by mode eseach nsuons, complexy canno n and o sel be syn-onymous o a eunon wh an open pacce o scence. No "dscove o complex

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y per se s pable o haegng aae soaon and he expermeal moologe h it sabzs. The esponse o he queson o omplexi s no heore- b praal I qes ha anar LyLebond alled "he enulrono sene Le us rean he bodness ha gves he xpermeal queson s beand neres, whle eshewng he reklessss so oen aed oday as a ondono s boldness. Le s ake, aep, and ea o mesre he sks.

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Braking t Circle f

Sufficient Rean

FOR SOIANS o scc h "bakg o h cc s o a pcs psod haudac o Kp who was h s who dad o hms om a covcoha had gudd asooms om Gk aquy up o Copcus ad v oGao A hs asooms had accpd as svd ha o h "pcgua ad a ov o h pas h shoud cospod h pc

gomca gu h cc W a usd o assocag h bh o mod sc-c wh h "Copca vouo h subsuo o h hocc sysmo h gocc sysm. Bu was Kp who mad h a dc bh o sysms by asomg h sgca o h ao bw mahma-cs ad asomy Th cc h mahaca g o pco abd o oudg a po obsab wod: h chca pobm o asoomy was o "savh phoma by smuag h aguag o ccs movm o csabods. Kp dvsd mahmacs o hs pow o udgm ad usd mahma-

cs as a sach oo hby avg a a gu ha was o hm us o amogohs h ps As wh Fud o coud spak h o a woud mposd o hu-ma acsss. Raso had o qush h pow o udgg a po ad subm ompca obsvao.

O cous wh Nwo pss casd bg us o gom-c gu amog ohs; hy w gv h hoca mag as h xps


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io o he gaviaioa oce beee he u ad he pae. The woud opeedby Kepe oy deepeed, cauig a cada amog aioai uch a Huyghe,Leibiz, Eue, ad d'Aembe wha i hi oce o aacio acg iaaeouya a diace? Moe ha o ceuie ae, wih Eiei' heoy o geea eaiviy, he cada wa iay queed ad he oce o aacio ow expee hemeic popeie ha Eiei aibued o paceime Bu ohe ce had i hemeaime made hei appeaace We kow he paio wih which oday' phyi

ci, uch a Sephe Hawkig, coiue he que udeake by Eiei, heuicaio o phyica oce. I' hi i he ame paio? I' i he ame deie o edicove a aoa wod ha i ieigibe a pioi, o coe he woudoped by Kepe' eipe? I' i he deie o ecoiue he boke uiy bewee he powe o eao ad he eao o he wod?

Thi iiia hioy ca be viewed a a paaboa ha adequaeydemoae he iguaiy o wha we ca phyic O he oe had, hi i ceayhe ciece whee he eao beee heoy ad expeiece i he mo igoou

ad demadig, ad i ha, phyici ae ceay he deceda o Kepe. Bu,o he ohe had, hi i a ciece ha away appea o ivove he pojec ojuging pheomea, o ubmiig hem o a aioa idea. Moe peciey, we aedeaig wih he oy ciece ha make he dicio beee wha phyicica "pheomeoogica aw ad "damea aw The may we decibepheomea mahemaicay i a igoou ad eeva way, bu oy he eco cacaim o ui he diveiy o pheomea, o go "beyod appeaace I i a i,iead o beig abadoed wih Kepe, he idea ha we have he igh o judge

he wod o pheomea i he ame o a omaive idea had become moe viue ha eve.

I wa by wokig wih Iya Pigogie ha I eaed o becomeeive o hi iguaiy o phyic, o udead i a a pobem. Whe I wa aude, i wa amied o me a eevide My udeadig wa abe o deveop becaue he pobem ha occupie Pigogie i, ad away ha bee, he pobem o ime i phyic I i wih epec o me ha he diicio beee pheomeoogica ad damea ake i mo damac ad poemica u. i i

eaio o ime ha he aioa idea ha appea o guide phyic ha he mopaadoxica coequece.

he I eaed phyic, I acceped a "oy pheoeoogicahe aw ha decibe "ieveibe evouoha i, evouio ha oy akepace i oe diecio (a mixue doe o "umix ie empeaue dieecedo o iceae poaeouy a vacuum i o poaeouy poduced i ome


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,

coe o he amosphee). Fom a dameal po o vew he deece be-wee he evoluos ha we obsee ad hose ha we hk mpossble s ovald. descbe he levelg o empeaes ems o he moveme o mole-cules ad he collsos have o coclude ha o each pacula evoluo o mol-ecules ha would be expessed a he obseable level by a levelg hee coespodsaohe peecly equvale whch s case s expessed by a cease empeaue deece! The dameal laws o physcs do o ecogze wha leadsus o ecogze whou hesao ha om oe sao aohe wll ollow gves o deco o wha we adoally call he "aow o me.

e you ae sudg physcs you quckly ge used o accep-g hgs Bu oe s as mdbogglg as hs Neve has ay speculao how-eve audacous whehe o myscs o phlosophes aaed such volece o udgeas "oly pheomeologcal he deece bewee beoe ad ae! oe showedasoomes a lm epeseg a ukow plaea sysem hey would be uable say whehe he lm was poeced om begg o ed o om ed o beg-g. Ad s hs same capacy ha physcs abues o he "peec obseeo whom aue would be decly decpheable ems o dameal aws

Ye he su shes ad whou lvg hgs would o exsad he measug sumes o physcss o eve oly he eas wee oevesbly maked hee would o be ay measug ad physcs would be -possble s suce o deouce he absud o a physcs ha saes ha sow conitions o possibility ae elave o he appoxmae descpo ha ca bemade by he mpeec obsees ha we ae? Ca we que smply deouce hedeologcal chaace o hs e o udgme ad u he page?

Somehg also leaed wh Pgoge s ha he page s oso easly ed. s o a smple o make he dsco beee seous physcsad s deologcal dmeso. Physcss do o us am a deologcal udgmehe wok has bee acvely ad ceavely guded by wha we ae emped o call"smply deologcal udgmes. Oe could eve say ha he heoecal ools heyused coveyed hs udgme vn bor thy bcam awar o it. The mos asosh-g sgula o he queso o me physcs s ha s oly a he ed o heeeeh ce hough Ludwg Bolzma's wok ha physcss ealzed hahe laws hey had ake o gaed o abou wo ceues ad acceped as da-meal dd o allow hem o dsgush beoe om ae! They ew om he be-gg ha hese laws wee deemsc ha hey eaed ucea egadghe ue as a eec o ou goace. They had o see ul he ha hese lawsealed a adcal deece beee wo pes o deemsc lawso example

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on he one hand he law ha escbes a peec pendulum, oscllang eenally whou con, and on he ohe hand Foues law, whch descbes how hea dsesbeeen wo pons o deen empeaue. I was only when Bolzmann ed explcly o jon hese o pes o deemnsc laws and came up agans paadoxesjudged as nsumounable ha physcss undesood he choce ha was oced onhem ehe o make he aow o me an appeaance o clealy adm ha he lawso movemen dd no consue a pvleged access o he labynh o phenomena

We have ended o oge he laenneeenhcen conov-ses ha maked hs epsode. They ae emnscen o he conoveses ha have suounded quanum mechancs o moe han hal a cenuy now. n boh cases, washe ve meanng o physcs, s vocaon and he deal ha gdes , ha wee ndedscusson. We have ogoen hese conoveses because he evoluons o en-ehcen physcselav and quanum mechancs, whch a he dec descendans o dynamcs appeaed o conm he hce o hose who sacced hephenomenlogcal evdence o he aow o me o he laws o dnamc movemen.

Be ha as may, a he me physcss chose nsen ove Keple. They chose aphyscs ha judges n he name o a nom, as opposed o a physcs ha acceps hewounds a phenomena mposed on s deal. Ths s doubless he souce o he

enewed powe o he deam allude o eale ha o a physcs ha, hans o heuncaon o oces, would nally "heal he Keplean wound, edscove he paho a aonal cosmos, and nd a pon o vew om whch phenomenologcal des could be judged ahe han endued.

One mgh also add ha he paadoxcal consequences o hs

choce ae sll pesen n he paadoxes quanum mechancs, whose omalsm nac lnks he wo conadco mes o physcs he symmecal me o dnamcsand he evesble me ha quanum mechancs assocaes wh he oeaon omeasuemen. s because physcss have no managed o subm he second o hes ha some have aken he poson ha quanum mechancs nvolves an ne-venn o human conscousness. A measuemen, hey say, s no a physcal pocessha he physcs uses o obsee and know s human awaeness o a measuemen ha acvely ceaes he obseable phenomenon.

Beakng h ccle o sucen eason he le o hs essayees boh o he adon o physcs and o a possble ue, one ha, seems ome, Pgogne s wokng owad. Ths s a ue ha would eplay he choce haled physcss o dene physcs agans he phenomenologcal evdence o he aowo me Pgogne sees hmsel as a ue descendan o Bolzmann, who ed o jonhe laws o dyamc mvemen and evesble pocesses. Fo me, Pgogne s also

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clealy a descendant o Keple who daed to beak with the peection o the cicleand to wage on the rlvanc o mathematics to descibe the wold o phenomenaagainst the powr o mathematics to judge this wold in the name o a nomativeideal

he pinciple o sucient eason is not hysical but philosophical t deives om Leibniz who baptised as "dynamics the science o movementceated by Galileo and contined by Huyghens Leibniz undestood tha this sci

ence owed its ecundity to the discovey o a new mode o access to phenomena toa new manne o undestanding and descibing them Leibniz stated that "the llcause is equivalent to the entie eect. n mode physics the peection o a science that can dene this quantitative equivalence beteen cause and eect has beensubstituted o the peection o the cicle will show that it is this peection oscience that denes the new nomative ideal on the basis o which physics has cometo deny the dieence beteen the past and the te.

Let's imagine Galileo cononting his poblem: movements that

need to e compaed and bought togethe unde one law even though they involvebodies that move at continually changing speeds in dieent time ames ove dieent distances can compae the speeds o to bodies i they coss the same amounto space o i they move o the same amount o time; o can compae the distances and times i they tavl at the same speed But i all thee tems ae vaiableswhat do you do? We know that Galileo woked on this poblem o yeas withoutgetting anywhee. he solution he eventually ound coceing bodies alling vetically o othewise is still the one taught in school and which beginnes oten

have the geatest diculty in gasping. Galileo undestood that i the movement isacceleating i the speed is continually changing he could not continue as had allhis pedecessos to dene the speed as "the space taveled divided b the time takento tavel it. He invented an idea that is dicult to accept that a body in acceleatedmovement changes speed at each instant. hus at each instant it "has a speed utat is speed it tavls no space in no time since at the ollowing instant it will havea dieent speed hus he dened the "velocity at a given instant as that which hebody had gain duing the couse o its all up to that instant But how is this gain

to be dened? t is in the answe invented by Galileo that Leibniz will nd the"pinciple o sucient eason the ain must be "equivalent o a loss. he eectmust be equivalent to the cause that disappeas in poducing it he velocity gainedis "equivalent to the lost altitude which o Galileo and o Leibniz means thatthis vlocity is xact sucint to aow th boy to rgain th lost alitu. oday wewite mv2 mgh and it is the "equals sign between the two that shows the

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equvalece beee he ee eec (he veloc gaed by a body o mass mallg wh a uom gavaoal acceleao g) ad he ll cause (he deece alude h coveed by hs all) The poo o he equvalece s he evesbl ohe elao bewee cause ad eec he body ses, he eec s measued by h,ad he cause s he velocy los by he body a each sa o s sg moo

The oos o cause ad eec ae old, dag om well beoemode physcs a s ew s he "equals sg s ha sg ha wll domae

ad deeme he de o cause ad eec om hs po owad Lebz'scoempoaes wee scadalzed hy measue he eec o he cause by hesquar o he veloc? y hs abaess? hy o make he cube whle oes a ? Bu Lebz had udesood ha he oly objecve deo o a cause oa eec ha s o a eeco o ou chocs o deas s oe ha acquesces oequaly dee cause ad eec such a way ha ca we he equals sgbeee hem, kow ha my kowledge s peec, ha have le ohg escape

The "equals sg o suce easo s a hsocal ovel The

deo o he "saaeous veloc wll heceoh jo pas ad e udehe sg o de he pese sae s deed as a eec equvale o he pasha caused , ad as he cause o a equvale, possble ue (a body, wh hs ve-loc, coul easced) Ad Lebz was gh s hs deo o he sa hahe mechass o he egheeh ceu, om Beoull o Lagage, geealzed les a he bass o he oo o dyamc sysem, ad s why he equalecebeee he pas ad he ue, he mpossbly o dsgushg beee beoead ae, s we o he equaos o dyamcs s we o as a pacu-

la esul, bu leally as a syntactic rul ha dees he meag o wha we call ve-loc, oce ad acceleao s why he egao o he aow o me by physcs so oly "deologcal was o doe eoally; was a sume o deo

Aeady a ha me he pheomeologcal evdece was seagas Lebz collsos beee bodes ha ae o peecly elasc, some move-me s "los, ad hus he cause s o equvale o he eec Eve hs ow day,Lebz used he agume ha egs oday physcs s because we ae o pe-ec obseves, capable o measug he ll cause ad he ee eec, ha we be-

leve ha some moveme s los whe acually s asmed o small, vsblepas o bodes s as we had chaged a sum o moey made up o oes o lagedeomaos o loose chage, ad, beg mpeec aces, we wee capableo akg o accou he small cos The pcple o suce easo aculaespeeco ad equvalece dees he mae whch a obsee who les oh

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Documents

Isabelle Stengers - Power and Invention: Situating Science (Theory Out of Bounds Series , Vo 10) (1997)