Potential economies : complexity, novelty and the event

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The primary concern of this dissertation will be to understand under what conditionsnovelty arises within a system. In classical philosophy, the notion of novelty is usually said toarise out of an event. However, the notion of an event often carries with it metaphysical andconservative implications. Therefore, part of the concern of this dissertation is to begin todevelop an approach to novelty which is not dependent upon the event. This approach isdeveloped through the insights offered by Critical Complexity and post‐structuralistphilosophy.In social science the model of the frame has dominated how to think about the limitationsto the context specific nature of knowledge. Instead of the analogy of a frame, thisdissertation argues that it is better to adopt the notion of an 'economy'. This is due to thefact that the notion of an economy allows social scientists to better theorize therelationships which constitute the models they create. The argument for an economy ismade by exploring the connections between the work of Jacques Derrida, the complexitytheorist Edgar Morin and Georges Bataille.However, when using the notion of an economy, one must always take the excess of thiseconomy into consideration. This excess always feeds back to disrupt the economy fromwhich it is excluded. Using terms developed in complexity theory, this dissertation illustrateshow a system adapts to the environment by using this excess. Due to this there can neverbe a comprehensively modelled complex system because there are always facets of thissystem which remain hidden to the observer.The work of Alain Badiou, whose central concern is the notion of novelty arising out of anevent, is introduced. The implications of depending on the event for novelty to arise aredrawn out by discussing the affinities between the work of Derrida and Badiou. In thisregard, Derrida's use of the term 'event' much more readily agrees with a complexityinformed understanding of the term in contrast to the quasi‐religious definition whichBadiou uses. This complexity‐informed understanding of the event illustrates that what the event reveals is simultaneously a dearth and wealth of possibilities yet to be realized.Therefore the event cannot be depended upon to produce novelty.However, the notion of the event must not be discarded too quickly; classical science hastraditionally discarded this idea due to its reductive approach. The idea of process opens upan understanding of the radical novelties produced in history to the possibility of the eventand to a new understanding of ontology. This dissertation proposes that one can begin tothink about radical forms of novelty without the event through the notion ofexperimentation. This approach allows one to engage with what exists rather than relyingupon an event to produce novelty. This argument is made by following Bataille, who arguesthat through an engagement with non‐utilitarian forms of action, by expending for the sakeof expenditure, the world is opened up to possibilities which remain unrealized under thecurrent hegemony. In this light, this dissertation begins to develop a definition of novelty asthat which forces a rereading of the system's history.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University