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A Philosophical Evaluation ofthe Chaos Theory “Revolution”

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 June 2023

Stephen H. Kellert
Stephen H. Kellert*
Affiliation:
Indiana University
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Extract

I would like to begin by addressing two pressing questions that may be raised regarding chaos theory: Is it actually about “chaos” at all? And is it actually a “theory?” The short answers to these questions are, respectively, “no” and “it depends.” With respect to the first question, scientists have appropriated the ordinary term that means utterly unintelligible disorder. But chaotic behavior in the contemporary scientific sense is manifestly intelligible, and the word “chaos” may lead to rnisunderstandings as weil as legitimate interest. So, in the first part of my presentation, I will offer a characterization of chaos theory and briefly address the use of this term in scientific enterprises.

Type
Part II: Chaos Theory
Information
PSA: Proceedings of the Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association , Volume 1992 , Issue 2: Volume Two: Symposia and Invited Papers 1992 , 1993 , pp. 32 - 49
Copyright
Copyright © 1993 by the Philosophy of Science Association

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Footnotes

1

I am grateful to Roger Jones, Lisa Heldke, Eric Winsberg, and John Winnie for their comments on earlier drafts of this paper.

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