Dynamism(complexity, wiki, forked, Proteus)
Dynamism is term of
philosophy and
science coined by
Gottfried Leibniz (
1646—
1716) and developed into a full
system of
cosmology. Dynamism describes that what exists are simple
elements, or for Leibniz,
monads, and groups of elements which have only the essence of
forces. Interaction between elements takes place without contact, through modes or even harmonics of motion, yielding all
phenomena in the
Universe.
However, Dynamism can also be found in the works of
Baruch Spinoza and
Henri Bergson, but also long before them, in the ancient
Parmenides,
Aristotle,
the atomists and later in
Plotinus. In more contemporary works, elements of Dynamism also developed into
process philosophy, via
Alfred North Whitehead and others, as well as
systems theory via
Ludwig von Bertalanffy and
William Ross Ashby. Contemporary thinkers such as
Virginia Postrel,
describes a social philosophy of cultural change, individual choice, and the
open society. More recently,
M.R.M. Parrott describes a complex field theory underlying all things, speaking of
systemic Dynamism over
stasis in the
metaphysical functions and adaptation of complex systems. His multi-volume series, "
Dynamism", describes the layers of such an interpretation. Currently,
Colin Stott argues that many of the problems of traditional
western philosophy arise from an unsustainably passive view of both matter and consciousness. His
A New Dynamism for Philosophy blog seeks to reveal the potential of a re-invigorated dynamism to diagnose, address and propose accessible solutions to many of
Philosophy's oldest questions.
Dynamism was also taken up by
Umberto Boccioni and other
artists and creative thinkers early in the 20th century. Dynamist artists used the concept as part of a way of representing the complexity of
processes, rather than be limited by the discrete and static
moments within change, which also illustrated the limits of human
perception.
External Links
Some content adapted from the Wikinfo article "Dynamism" under the GNU Free Documentation License.
(last updated by Proteus, 6:38pm CDT - Tue, Apr 03 2007)
