Unsimple Truths
Science, Complexity, and Policy
The world is complex, but acknowledging its complexity requires an appreciation for the many roles context plays in shaping natural phenomena. In Unsimple Truths, Sandra Mitchell argues that the long-standing scientific and philosophical deference to reductive explanations founded on simple universal laws, linear causal models, and predict-and-act strategies fails to accommodate the kinds of knowledge that many contemporary sciences are providing about the world. She advocates, instead, for a new understanding that represents the rich, variegated, interdependent fabric of many levels and kinds of explanation that are integrated with one another to ground effective prediction and action.
Mitchell draws from diverse fields including psychiatry, social insect biology, and studies of climate change to defend “integrative pluralism”—a theory of scientific practices that makes sense of how many natural and social sciences represent the multi-level, multi-component, dynamic structures they study. She explains how we must, in light of the now-acknowledged complexity and contingency of biological and social systems, revise how we conceptualize the world, how we investigate the world, and how we act in the world. Ultimately Unsimple Truths argues that the very idea of what should count as legitimate science itself should change.
“A clear and engaging explanation of how nature’s complexity is forcing science to change. Real food for thought, especially for scientists.”—Robert Laughlin, winner of the 1998 Nobel Prize for Physics
“Mitchell’s brilliant, groundbreaking book calls for an expanded epistemology of science, one better able to handle uncertainties, and one needed to understand and manage complex phenomena such as climate change. To defend her new perspective, ‘integrative pluralism,’ Mitchell draws extensively on scientific work in a number of biological and social disciplines. Calling for fundamental changes in how we understand science and nature, her book is not only important and insightful, but also engaging, analytically clear, and accessible. Every philosopher of science, scientist, and policymaker should read it.”—Kristin Shrader-Frechette, University of Notre Dame
“Recent attempts to integrate knowledge in such diverse areas as the study of earth systems and the study of ourselves has brought about a surprise. The old reductionist dream seems increasingly out of reach and uninformative, while a new way of thinking about science and its relation to humanity is emerging. Sandra Mitchell is at the forefront both by contributing to the development of this new picture of science, and in explaining in clear and elegant prose what is at stake. This is a book that can be recommended to almost everyone.”—Dale Jamieson, New York University
“A manifesto in favor of a new epistemology of science premised on a careful assessment of the current state of biological research, Unsimple Truths is accessible, well written, and important. Simply superb.”—Jason Scott Robert, Arizona State University
“This is a terrific book. It ranges over a large variety of interesting and important topics, but the common theme is strategies for understanding evolved complex systems in which there is considerable plasticity and redundancy and for making policy decisions in the face of such complexity. It is clearly written, highly accessible, and unfailingly stimulating and provocative. I can’t recommend it highly enough.”—Jim Woodward, California Institute of Technology
“Very stimulating. . . . [Unsimple Truths] is clean and spare and fun to read. And to argue with. What more could one ask of a philosophical treatise?”—Quarterly Review of Biology
Preface
Introduction
1: A Case of Complexity
Shifting Paradigms in Epistemology
2: Complexities of Organization: How We Think About the World
Emergence versus Reduction
Kim’s Analysis
Scientific Emergence
3: Complexities of Evolved Diversity: Laws
Does Biology Have Laws?
Contingency versus Natural Necessity
Necessity, Possibility, and the Contingent Universe
4: Science: How We Investigate the World
Knockout Experiments
Redundancy and Robustness
Interventionist Causes and Modularity
5: Policy: How We Act in the World
Robustness in Scenario Analysis
The Case of Genetically Modified Food
The Precautionary Principle
6: Integrative Pluralism
Integrated Multilevel Explanation
Pragmatic Considerations
Dynamical Perspectives
Notes
References
Index
Philosophy: General Philosophy
Physical Sciences: History and Philosophy of Physical Sciences
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