The problem of the relationship between human and physical realities in Ilya Prigogine's paradigm of self-organisation

Leo Näpinen

pp. 151-164

in: Rein Vihalemm (ed), Estonian studies in the history and philosophy of science, Berlin, Springer, 2001

Abstract

The relationship mentioned in the title began to pose a problem in connection with the emergence of exact sciences in modem times. Until most recent times, the ideal of exact sciences has been "pure," that is to say, subject-free, objectivity, i.e. the description of the world in the form of objects, not human activities. Everything connected with humans and their everyday life — free will, chance, irreversibility, complexity, quality, inexactitude, unpredictability, etc. — have been considered factors which disturb scientific objectivity. Thus, somehow we have had to deal with two worlds (realities) standing apart from each other. In literature, this problem has been called the problem of two cultures: one of them is scientific or technological and the other — the remaining cultural tradition. The former, unlike the latter, does not recognise any indeterminacy in reality. It finds that the physical world can be captured only by means of purely mathematical thinking. In western philosophy, this problem dates back to Descartes. Descartes' treatment of the world remained mechanical and mathematical. He doubted nearly everything except knowledge acquired through mathematics. He excluded indeterminacy from scientific rationality. The opposition existing between the two cultures, (scientific-technological and social-humanitarian), has also been stressed by Kant, Heidegger, Koyré, and others.

Cited authors

Heidegger Martin

Kant Immanuel

Descartes René

Prigogine Ilya