دانلود کتاب Elements and Relations: Aspects of a Scientific Metaphysics

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
TO THE READER
Who is this book for?
What is the central idea of this book?
How is this book organized?
Why does this book have a complicated structure?
Different possible sequences to read this book
On the parallel structures of Essay and Notes
Some personal information
Part I. ESSAY: Ontology of Problems
1.1 Synchronics (Being)
1.2 Diachronics (Becoming)
Chapter 1 Being and Becoming
1.1 Synchronics (Being)
1.1.1 Wholeness
1.1.2 Constraint
1.1.3 Distinction
1.1.4 Persistence
1.1.5 Identity
1.1.6 Agency
1.1.6.1 Texture
1.1.6.2 Other Systems
1.1.6.3 Embeddedness
1.1.7 Complexity
1.1.7.1 Networks
1.1.7.2 Hierarchies
1.1.8 Cognition
1.1.9 Summary
1.2 Diachronics (Becoming)
1.2.1 Origin
1.2.2 Development
1.2.3 Limitation
1.2.4 Complexification
1.2.4.1 Segregation
1.2.4.2 Systematization
1.2.5 Internal opposition
1.2.6 Texture
1.2.7 Other systems
1.2.8 Embeddedness
1.2.9 Impermanence
Part II. COMMENTARY: Recovery of Coherence
Chapter 2 An exact and scientific metaphysics
2.1 The illusion of the fundamental
2.2 The systems alternative
2.3 A new conception of metaphysics
2.4 The epistemological niche of systems theories
2.5 Theories and models; the idea of “system”
Chapter 3 Concepts and categories
3.1 Substance and form
3.1.1 A “stuff-free” metaphysics
3.1.2 Concrete, abstracted, and conceptual systems
3.2 Matter, energy, information; utility
3.2.1 Matter, energy, and information
3.2.2 Utility
3.3 Isomorphism and emergence
3.4 Aspects of complexity and holism
3.5 Structure, function, and history
3.5.1 Structure and function
3.5.2 Adding history
Chapter 4 Related fields
4.1 Not just mathematics
4.2 The relevance of physics
4.2.1 Thermodynamics and statistical mechanics
4.2.2 Quantum mechanics
4.2.3 Other theories in physics
4.3 The centrality of biology
4.4 Sciences of the artificial
4.5 Systems theory and systems analysis
Chapter 5 The challenge of integration
5.1 No singular systems theory
5.2 Hierarchy of system types
5.3 Categories of complexity
5.4 Ontology of problems
5.5 Metaphysician’s desk manual
Chapter 6 Science, religion, politics
6.1 A macro-historical model
6.1.1 A model of diachronic processes
6.1.2 The model applied to history
6.1.3 On the inescapability of grand narratives
6.2 The new science
6.2.1 A supplementing process
6.2.2 Understanding what we know
6.2.3 Fact and value
6.2.4 Horizons
6.2.5 Personal knowledge
6.3 Natural religion
6.3.1 Secular Theodicy
6.3.2 Metaphysics, a bridge to religion
6.3.3 Inner science
6.3.4 Revisiting the historical model
6.4 Fixing the world
6.4.1 Sustainability and globalization
6.4.2 Modernization as differentiation systems
6.4.2.1 The Parsonian model of social systems
6.4.2.2 Problems of differentiation
6.4.2.3 Subsystem differentiation
6.4.2.4 The world system
6.4.3 On the gap between the actual and the ideal; on the incoherence of the ideal
6.5 Summing Up: promise of the systems project
Part III. NOTES: Systems Theory
Chapter 7 Notes on Being and Becoming
7.1 Notes on Synchronics (Being)
7.1.1 Wholeness
1. System
2. Organizing principle
3. Relation
4. Incompleteness
5. Structure
6. Inconsistency
7. Networks
8. Incompleteness vs. inconsistency
7.1.2 Constraint
9. Relation as constraint
10. Dynamic relation
11. Echoing the primary tension
12. The potential and the actual
13. Order
14. Entropy
15. Scale
16. Order and disorder are intertwined
17. Chaos
18. Unity and multiplicity
19. Aggregates vs. systems
20. Reconciling constraint and variety
7.1.3 Distinction
21. Distinction
22. Environment
23. Disequilibrium and existence
24. Boundary
25. Fuzziness
26. Fractals
27. External relation
28. Extension
29. Nothing, many, one, all
30. One, two, three, ten thousand
31. Assertion vs. integration
32. Emergence
33. Engaging/disengaging
34. Active vs. passive
35. Function
7.1.4 Persistence
36. Stability
37. Catastrophe theory
38. The fold catastrophe
39. The Second Law
40. Rigidification vs. disintegration
41. Openness and Closedness
42. Dissipative systems
43. Openness necessary and hazardous
44. Law of Requisite Variety
45. Feedback control
7.1.5 Identity
46. Information (and matter-energy, utility)
47. Autopoiesis
48. Algorithmic information
49. Genotype and phenotype
50. Internal vs. external identity
51. Paradoxes of autonomy
52. Dangers of filtering out noise
53. Boundary subsystem
7.1.6 Agency
54. Utility
55. Environmental types
7.1.6.1 Texture
56. Decision theory
57. Chaos and long-term forecasting
58. Nature resists
59. Multiplication of effects
60. Externalities
61. Counterintuitive effects
62. Weakening by strengthening
63. No terminus
64. Discounting the future
65. Binding the future and sunk costs
66. Pareto-optimality
67. Multiple objectives
68. Aggregating preferences
69. Computational complexity
70. Optimization
71. Optimality, stability, and resilience
72. Purposeful action as a tetrad
7.1.6.2 Other Systems
73. Assertion, integration, exchange
74. Eating and being eaten
75. Game theory
76. Coalition instability
77. Discerning which game is being played
78. Prisoner’s Dilemma
79. Chicken
80. Symmetry or altruism may be harmful
81. Sharing elements
7.2.6.3 Embeddedness
82. Heteronomy
83. Recruitment and predation
84.Embeddedness as a solution to the PD
85. Turbulent fields
7.1.7 Complexity
86. Complexity
87. Individuality and complexity
88. Hierarchies and networks
7.1.7.1 Networks
89. Complexity, stability, and chaos
90. Small worlds
91. Scale-free networks
7.1.7.2 Hierarchies
92. Homogeneity, heterogeneity, and scale
93. Three levels
94. The highest is not the whole
95. Hierarchical egalitarianism
96. Distillation and alienation
97. Informational parasitism
7.1.8 Cognition
98. A naturalistic epistemology
99. The modeling subsystem
100. Tetrad of modeling
101. Pragmatic, semantic, syntactic
102. Multiple subselves
103. Self and non-self
104. Embeddedness of cognition
105. Cognition and time
106. Constructing reality
107. Representation
108. Cognition and autopoiesis
109. Relativity of models
110. Fallibility
111. Modeling constraint
112. Sensitivity and specificity
113. Wrong perception
114. Self-reference
7.1.9 Summary
115. Binary oppositions
116. Dyadic correlations
117. Dialectics
118. The extremes are attractors
119. The war of universality on uniqueness
7.2 Notes on Diachronics (Becoming)
7.2.1 Origin
120. System formation
121. Self-organization
122. Offspring
7.2.2 Development
123. Disequilibrium and change
124. Order through fluctuations
125. Development vs growth
126. Contradiction and its consequences
127. Self-development
7.2.3 Limitation
128. Dialectics and catastrophe theory
129. History: idiographic or nomothetic
130. Trajectories of development
131. Cusp catastrophe
132. Augustinian vs. Manichean devils
133. Environmental types, again
134. Failures in meeting new challenges
7.2.4 Complexification
135. Movement toward the extremes
136. Centralization
137. Mechanization (rigidification)
138. Form limits growth
139. Temporalization of complexity
140. Two universal processes
141. Optimal segregation vs. systematization
7.2.4.1 Segregation
142. Progressive segregation
143. Partial decomposability
7.2.4.2 Systematization
144. Systematization
145. Levels of structure and dynamics
146. Integration of stable substructures
147. Limits of complexification
148. Non-decomposability under stress
149. Connectedness for good and ill
150. Self-organized criticality
7.2.5. Internal opposition
151. Something intractable
152. Cusp of negation
153. Excess and overshoot
154. Chance and necessity
7.2.6 Texture
155. Environment is a limited source and sink
156. Wastes are inevitable
157. Closing the circle
158. Limits to growth
159. Temporal traps
160. Growth as a PD
161. Difficulty of reversing bad effects
162. Destroying the environment that sustains
7.2.7 Other systems
163. Natural selection
164. The organized exploits the unorganized
165. Two kinds of dialectic
166. Butterfly catastrophe
167. Butterfly of reconciliation
7.2.8 Embeddedness
168. Succession
169. Punctuated equilibria
170. Adaptation vs. adaptability
171. When to change
172. Generalized evolution
173. Evolution of modeling subsystem
7.2.9 Impermanence
174. Things fade
175. Thermodynamics vs. kinetics
176. From being to non-being
177. Failing all at once
178. Dissolution
179. Its effects may endure
180. Decay is inherent in composite things
APPENDICES
A. Auto-critique
A.1 Structure
A.1.1 Abstraction
A.1.2 Inexactness
A.1.3 Metaphor
A.1.4 Rhetoric
A.1.5 Scope
A.2 Function
A.2.1 Problematics
A.2.2 Diagnostics, Therapeutics
A.2.3 Euphorics, an antidote
B. Lists of figures, tables
B.1 All figures, tables
TO THE READER
COMMENTARY
NOTES
Synchronics
Diachronics
B.2 Dyadic figures, tables
B.3 Triadic figures, tables
B.4 Tetradic figures
B.5 Pentadic figures, table
B.6 Hexadic figure
REFERENCES
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
INDEX