Rosen on reductionism
DON MIKULECKY (MIKULECKY%VCUVAX.BITNET@letterbox.rl.ac.uk)
Sun, 8 Oct 1995 11:45:49 -0400
Don Mikulecky, MCV/VCU, Mikulecky@gems.vcu.edu
Here's a quote from "Anticipatory Systems" by robert Rosen, Pergamon, 1987,
pp82..
"The fundamental importance of this situation [reduction of encodings in the
modeling relation] lies in its relation to REDUCTIONISM as a basic scientific
principle. Reductionism asserts essentially that there is a universal way of
encoding an arbitrary natural system, such that EVERY OTHER ENCODING is
reducible to it in the above sense. It must be stressed, and it is clear from
the above discussion, that reductionism involves a MATHEMATICAL relation
between certain formal systems, into which natural systems are encoded. In
order for reductionism in this sense to be established as a VALID scientific
principle, the following data must be given: (a) a recipe, or algorithm, for
producing the universal encoding for any given natural system, N; (b) a
MATHEMATICAL proof that every other encoding can be effectively mapped into
the universal one. Needless to say, no arguments bearing on thses matters
have ever been forthcoming, and as we shall see abundantly, there are good
reasons to suppose that the reductionist principle is in fact false."
The context dependence here is even more clear. I use it as an example of how
difficult it would be to make an honest effort to either support or refute
these assertions in a few paragraphs in this forum especially if all one dealt
with is the fragment presented here. Rosen gives us powerful tools for
evaluation these criterea and they are only mastered through hard work. We
are finding that their mastery is a long road, a hard road, but one with plenty
of reward and incentive along the way. If "objectivity" in this context has
ANYTHING to do with the ability to step out of one's own narrow realm and try
to gaze upon that realm as an outsider, then Rosen seems to have lead us to
the highest level of objectivity I am aware of.
I hope these last few transmissions are a help. If not, I am at a loss to be
of much further help.
Best regards,
Don Mikulecky