The epistemology of complex systems

Abstract The human knowledge structure is acquired by a very complex process of learning. ‘Folk knowledge’, acquired in ordinary daily life, may be distinguished from ‘Scholarly knowledge’. Folk knowledge has images which range from about 10 5 to 10 −5 of the human size; scholarly knowledge produces images which range from about 10 20 to 10 −20 of the human size. Knowledge results from the interaction of internal and external messages. Internal messages produce perceptions of identities—propositions which cannot be untrue, and also perceptions of ‘near-identities’—propositions which have a high probability of being true. Beyond these are the empirical propositions, derived from ordered observation of the records of the past and the present, and from experiment. These are always subjet both to error, and the reduction of error. Each field of knowledge has to find its appropriate method, depending on the nature of the system about which knowledge is sought. These systems may be classified as predictable (with stable parameters) and partially predictable (systems involving information, or subject to parametric change.) It is a mistake to transfer methods appropriate in one field to another, where they may be inappropriate.