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Complexity and Epistemological Unity

  1. Journals
  2. Yearbook for Philosophy of Complex Systems
  3. Vol. 1, Issue 1
  4. pp. 171–193

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Attard, J. Complexity and Epistemological Unity. Yearbook for Philosophy of Complex Systems, 1(1), 171-193. https://doi.org/10.3790/pcs.2025.1461906
Attard, Jeremy "Complexity and Epistemological Unity" Yearbook for Philosophy of Complex Systems 1.1, 2025, 171-193. https://doi.org/10.3790/pcs.2025.1461906
Attard, Jeremy (2025): Complexity and Epistemological Unity, in: Yearbook for Philosophy of Complex Systems, vol. 1, iss. 1, 171-193, [online] https://doi.org/10.3790/pcs.2025.1461906
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Complexity and Epistemological Unity

Attard, Jeremy

Yearbook for Philosophy of Complex Systems, Vol. 1(2025), Iss. 1 : pp. 171–193 | First published online: September 25, 2025

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Duncker & Humblot
DOI
https://doi.org/10.3790/pcs.2025.1461906
Language
German
Pages
23
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Jeremy Attard, scientific collaborator at the University of Mons.

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Abstract

Complexity and Epistemological Unity

In this paper, I tackle one important obstacle to the minimal epistemological unity required in the interdisciplinary dialogue within complexity sciences, namely the ‘‘epistemological pluralist thesis’’. According to this view, there is no and can’t be any general epistemological framework within which all kinds of scientific production can be accounted for: each discipline, somehow, should be understood within its own epistemological perspective. I address this question in the specific case of the social sciences. I first synthesis typical pluralist arguments, defending the impossibility (or lack of relevance) to search for a common epistemological framework between all discipline. I then defend a monist position by opposing the pluralist theses both with theoretical and concrete (that is, manifest-counter-examples-based) arguments. I finally explore that question in the more specific context of complexity science.

Table of Contents

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Jeremy Attard: Complexity and Epistemological Unity 171

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