North Seattle Community College
Embracing A Complex World, Winter 2011
Mechanistic World View
Living Systems World View
Rene
Descartes
Origins of Western Science:
Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Descartes and Newton
Greek Philosophy, Empiricism
and Analysis through Reductionism
(Machine-Like/Predictability/Control)
20-21st Century Contemporary Science
Margaret Mead, Fritjof Capra, Peter Senge,
Margaret Wheatley
Concept of Holism and Interdependence
(Self Adaptive/Organic/Self Organizing/
Natural Order)
Between the 16th and 18th centuries there was
a dramatic shift in the way people observed
and thought about the Universe. This new
system of thought was based on the
philosophy of Rene Descartes who promoted a
mathematical description of nature and the use
of analytic thought - the Cartesian System.
Descartes' vision was to give a precise and
complete account of all natural phenomena
with absolute mathematical certainty. To
accomplish this he compared natural
phenomena with machines. Descartes even
drew parallels between a sick man and an illmade clock.
A new way of thinking called "systems
thinking" emerged during the first few decades
of the 20th century in some schools of biology,
psychology and in ecology.
Later Isaac Newton synthesized the works of
Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo and Descartes
into a complete mathematical formulation of
Nature - Newtonian Mechanics. Towards the
end of the 19th century scientists believed that
eventually all natural phenomena would be
explained by reducing them to the motion and
interaction of particles.
Ecologists who focused on the study of animal
and plant communities observed networks of
relationships - the web of life. They found a
new way of thinking - thinking in terms of
relationships, connectedness, and context.
According to Capra:"We may call this
ecological thinking, or systems thinking. It is
based on the fundamental shift of perception
from the world as a machine to the world as a
living system. This shift concerns our
perception of nature, of the human organism,
and of society.
Systems thinking involves shifting our
attention from the parts to the whole, from
objects to relationships, from structures to
processes, from hierarchies to networks. It also
includes shifts of emphasis from the rational to
the intuitive, from analysis to synthesis, from
linear to nonlinear thinking."
NEWTONIAN THINKING1
Atomistic and fragmented
Stresses the separate parts and gives rise to
specialisation
Individual or group
Sees a tension between the individual and the
group and/or fears the group being tom apart
by allowing individuality
Either/Or
One best way
Determinate
Value certainty and predictability
Reductive
Force-driven and top-down. "Reactive"
Observer-Observed split
The notion of the detached observer
Efficiency
Focusing on what is done to the exclusion of
why it is done.
http://www.hent.org/wview.htm
QUANTUM THINKING1
Holistic and integrated
Stresses relationships and the connections
between things
Individual and group
Sees the individual developing in the context of
the group -'Each of us is more ourselves
through relationships with others'
Both/And
Many valid paths from A to B. Diversity is a
positive and pluralism should be encouraged
Indeterminate
Thrive on uncertainty and ambiguity. 'It's what
makes us creative.'
Emergent
Contextual and bottom-up. Encouraging
'imagination, aspiration, experimentation'
Participatory universe
'People are not passive units of production,
they are partners in a creative relationship ...
Co-creative insiders'
Meaning
The context and relationships are used to find
meaning and add value. 'A quantum
organisation would be vision led and value
driven'
http://www.hent.org/wview.htm
What are your assumptions about the world?
1.
(a) Thought is a product of brain activity.
(b) The universe is more like a thought than a thing.
2.
(a) The universe does not exist for any purpose.
(b) Purpose is found everywhere within the universe.
3.
(a) Most of the universe is dead.
(b) The universe is alive.
4.
(a) Reality can be perceived through the five senses.
(b) There is an extra-sensory reality.
5.
(a) Reasoning is the highest skill possessed by humans.
(b) Reason and intuition are equally valuable skills.
6.
(a) We are probably the only intelligent life-form in the universe.
(b) There is probably intelligent life throughout the universe.
7.
(a) We have a good understanding of our origin and evolution.
(b) We are only beginning to understand our origin and evolution.
8.
(a) We are determined by our genetic inheritance and environment.
(b) We can transcend our genetic inheritance and environment.
9.
(a) The only memories we have access to are our own.
(b) We are capable of collective or transpersonal awareness.
10.
(a) Only the present moment exists.
(b) The past, present and future all exist at some level of reality.
11.
(a) A coincidence is nothing more than a meaningless curiosity.
(b) A coincidence is a meaningful link between different events.
12.
(a) A person who claims to have spontaneous spiritual experiences is probably mentally
ill.
(b) Spontaneous spiritual experiences are the natural expression of the higher-self.
13.
(a) Fulfillment is achieved when physiological and safety needs are satisfied.
(b) Fulfillment is achieved when physiological, safety, belonging, self-esteem, selfactualization and self-transcendent needs are satisfied.
14.
(a) Local events rarely have global consequences.
(b) Local events affect the entire universe.
15.
(a) You can understand the whole by studying its parts.
(b) The whole is more than the sum of its parts.
Most of the statements labeled 'a' are based on reductionistic/materialistic assumptions common
in the 18th and 19th centuries.
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Adapted from: http://www.hent.org/wview.htm