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Chaos Theory (chaos + theory)
Selected AbstractsSome Problems and Possibilities in the Study of Dynamical Social ProcessesJOURNAL FOR THE THEORY OF SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR, Issue 1 2000John E. Puddifoot The recent challenge of Dynamical Systems Theory (also known as ComplexityTheory or Chaos Theory) to the social sciences, is based largely on the beliefthat processes in the social arena can be considered as analogous to those of the natural world, and that in consequence general theoretical advances in explaining the latter might with advantage be applied to the former. This paper aims to show that claims for Dynamical Systems Theory with respect to the understanding or measurement of social processes would be premature; the reasons for this lying not only in the unfamiliarity and operational difficulties of Dynamical Systems Theory in itself, but also in the problematic nature and history of our usage of the term ,social process'. Reviewing some examples of such usage from Sociology and Social Psychology, it is concluded that Dynamical Systems Theory might serve as a catalyst for a re-examination of existing orthodoxies and major concepts, but that progress would be retarded by the uncritical application of it's terminology, concepts, and techniques of mathematical modelling, without this prior and demanding first step. [source] Recent innovations in marine biologyMARINE ECOLOGY, Issue 2009Ferdinando Boero Abstract Modern ecology arose from natural history when Vito Volterra analysed Umberto D'Ancona's time series of Adriatic fisheries, formulating the famous equations describing the linked fluctuations of a predator,prey system. The shift from simple observation to careful sampling design, and hypothesis building and testing, often with manipulative approaches, is probably the most relevant innovation in ecology, leading from descriptive to experimental studies, with the use of powerful analytical tools to extract data (from satellites to molecular analyses) and to treat them, and modelling efforts leading to predictions. However, the historical component, time, is paramount in environmental systems: short-term experiments must cope with the long term if we want to understand change. Chaos theory showed that complex systems are inherently unpredictable: equational, predictive science is only feasible over the short term and for a small number of variables. Ecology is characterized by a high number of variables (e.g. species) interacting over wide temporal and spatial scales. The greatest recent conceptual innovation, thus, is to have realized that natural history is important, and that the understanding of complexity calls for humility. This is not a return to the past, because now we can give proper value to statistical approaches aimed at formalizing the description and the understanding of the natural world in a rigorous way. Predictions can only be weak, linked to the identification of the attractors of chaotic systems, and are aimed more at depicting scenarios than at forecasting the future with precision. Ecology was originally split into two branches: autecology (ecology of species) and synecology (ecology of species assemblages, communities, ecosystems). The two approaches are almost synonymous with the two fashionable concepts of today: ,biodiversity' and ,ecosystem functioning'. A great challenge is to put the two together and work at multiple temporal and spatial scales. This requires the identification of all variables (i.e. species and their ecology: biodiversity, or autoecology) and of all connections among them and with the physical world (i.e. ecosystem functioning, or synecology). Marine ecosystems are the least impacted by human pressures, compared to terrestrial ones, and are thus the best arena to understand the structure and function of the natural world, allowing for comparison between areas with and areas without human impact. [source] Making a mark: two thousand years of ecology, economy and worldviewJOURNAL OF BIOGEOGRAPHY, Issue 1 2000Ian Simmons Abstract We can make a history of the world as an ecological history of an empirical nature. But parallelling that is the history of human thought about nature. The two interact at both pragmatic and abstract levels but in essence the outcome is unpredictable and more akin to chaos theory than to environmental or technological determinism. So the pursuit of either environmentalist or cornucopian Utopias seems not only doomed to failure but likely to cause destruction along the way; a step by step improvisatory strategy seems the best we can do. [source] A General Misspecification Test for Spatial Regression Models: Dependence, Heterogeneity, and NonlinearityJOURNAL OF REGIONAL SCIENCE, Issue 2 2001Thomas De Graaff There is an increasing awareness of the potentials of nonlinear modeling in regional science. This can be explained partly by the recognition of the limitations of conventional equilibrium models in complex situations, and also by the easy availability and accessibility of sophisticated computational techniques. Among the class of nonlinear models, dynamic variants based on, for example, chaos theory stand out as an interesting approach. However, the operational significance of such approaches is still rather limited and a rigorous statistical-econometric treatment of nonlinear dynamic modeling experiments is lacking. Against this background this paper is concerned with a methodological and empirical analysis of a general misspecification test for spatial regression models that is expected to have power against nonlinearity, spatial dependence, and heteroskedasticity. The paper seeks to break new research ground by linking the classical diagnostic tools developed in spatial econometrics to a misspecification test derived directly from chaos theory,the BDS test, developed by Brock, Dechert, and Scheinkman (1987). A spatial variant of the BDS test is introduced and applied in the context of two examples of spatial process models, one of which is concerned with the spatial distribution of regional investments in The Netherlands, the other with spatial crime patterns in Columbus, Ohio. [source] Good vibrations: Analytic process as coupled oscillationsTHE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PSYCHOANALYSIS, Issue 5 2009Robert M. Galatzer-Levy This paper develops a new model for the action of psychoanalysis based on concepts from non-linear dynamics (chaos theory and complexity theory). It shows that the analyst,analysand couple may be conceptualized as a new configuration with its own properties that promote complex development in both members of the couple. These developments are an emergent result of the formation of the analyst,analysand couple and are significantly independent of the particular content of the manifest interaction of the couple. The well-studied phenomena of coupled oscillators suggest the specific features of the analysand,analyst interaction that are likely to be most important in conceptualizing analytic change. The model has substantial clinical applications since efforts to arrange for a coupled oscillator system that is central to it are distinct from many of the traditional considerations associated with creating an analytic situation. [source] Towards a theory of the integration of the Other in representationTHE JOURNAL OF ANALYTICAL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 3 2005François Martin-Vallas Abstract:, In this article1, the author tries to uncover the elements of a theoretical model which would take into account the psychic transformations necessary to facilitate the emergence of representation. Toward this end, he firstly relies on Jung's notion of the archetype and Freud's idea of hallucinatory wish fulfilment, which he reconsiders in the light of the writings of Fordham (de-integration and re-integration of the primary self), and of Jean Laplanche (primary seduction), and linking it to the model based on chaos theory as developed in physics. He thus concludes that under the influence of primary seduction, the archetype is able to become a veritable, strange psychic attractor, enabling the determining factor of the instinctual axis of the archetype to open up to the possibility of symbolization, a necessary underlying feature for the occurrence of subjectivity. He ends his argument with a brief clinical vignette which illustrates the effect of openness to the psychic unknown constituted by primary seduction in the transference. [source] The fractal yam: botanical imagery and human agency in the TrobriandsTHE JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL ANTHROPOLOGICAL INSTITUTE, Issue 4 2009Mark S. Mosko Anthropologists have long appreciated that animals are ,good to think'. In this essay I ponder whether plants might be good to think too, and particularly whether there is any sense in asking if plants (along with animals) might also be ,good to act'. The botanical metaphor of ,base', ,body', and ,tip' animates the origin structures of many if not most societies of the Austronesian world. Less attention has been directed at indigenous elaborations in other socio-cultural domains of the region. Based on recent fieldwork, I outline such ramifications in Trobriand culture, drawing upon the notions of fractal recursion and self-similarity from chaos theory wherein emergent ,tips' yield ,fruit' which become the condition or ,base' for further production and transformation. Accordingly, the base-body-tip-fruit metaphor serves as a cultural template or scenario for social action, shedding new interpretative light on many topics of long-standing anthropological interest (e.g. yam propagation, display, and exchange, kula, mortuary celebration, age categories, fame) as well as more recent theoretical interests. Résumé Les anthropologues ont compris il y a longtemps déjà que les animaux sont « bons à penser ». Dans cet essai, l'auteur se demande si les plantes sont elles aussi bonnes à penser, et en particulier s'il vaut la peine de se demander si les plantes (comme les animaux) pourraient être « bonnes à agir ». La métaphore botanique de « base », « corps » et « tête » anime les structures originelles de beaucoup de sociétés du monde austronésien, sinon toutes. On s'est moins intéressé aux élaborations indigènes de la région dans d'autres domaines socioculturels. Sur la base d'un récent travail de terrain, l'auteur retrace ces ramifications dans la culture trobriandaise, utilisant les notions de récursivité fractale et d'autosimilitude de la théorie du chaos, selon lesquelles les « têtes » donnent des « fruits » qui deviennent la condition ou « base » d'une nouvelle production et transformation. En conséquence, la métaphore base-corps-tête-fruit sert de modèle culturel ou de scénario d'action sociale, jetant un nouvel éclairage interprétatif sur de nombreux sujets qui intéressent depuis longtemps les anthropologues (tels que la propagation, la présentation et l'échange des ignames, la kula, les célébrations mortuaires, les classes d'âge, la renommée), mais aussi sur de nouvelles questions théoriques plus récentes. [source] | |||||||||||||