Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2011. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The primary concern of this dissertation will be to understand under what conditions
novelty arises within a system. In classical philosophy, the notion of novelty is usually said to
arise out of an event. However, the notion of an event often carries with it metaphysical and
conservative implications. Therefore, part of the concern of this dissertation is to begin to
develop an approach to novelty which is not dependent upon the event. This approach is
developed through the insights offered by Critical Complexity and post‐structuralist
philosophy.
In social science the model of the frame has dominated how to think about the limitations
to the context specific nature of knowledge. Instead of the analogy of a frame, this
dissertation argues that it is better to adopt the notion of an ‘economy’. This is due to the
fact that the notion of an economy allows social scientists to better theorize the
relationships which constitute the models they create. The argument for an economy is
made by exploring the connections between the work of Jacques Derrida, the complexity
theorist Edgar Morin and Georges Bataille.
However, when using the notion of an economy, one must always take the excess of this
economy into consideration. This excess always feeds back to disrupt the economy from
which it is excluded. Using terms developed in complexity theory, this dissertation illustrates
how a system adapts to the environment by using this excess. Due to this there can never
be a comprehensively modelled complex system because there are always facets of this
system which remain hidden to the observer.
The work of Alain Badiou, whose central concern is the notion of novelty arising out of an
event, is introduced. The implications of depending on the event for novelty to arise are
drawn out by discussing the affinities between the work of Derrida and Badiou. In this
regard, Derrida’s use of the term ‘event’ much more readily agrees with a complexity
informed understanding of the term in contrast to the quasi‐religious definition which
Badiou 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 has
traditionally discarded this idea due to its reductive approach. The idea of process opens up
an understanding of the radical novelties produced in history to the possibility of the event
and to a new understanding of ontology. This dissertation proposes that one can begin to
think about radical forms of novelty without the event through the notion of
experimentation. This approach allows one to engage with what exists rather than relying
upon an event to produce novelty. This argument is made by following Bataille, who argues
that through an engagement with non‐utilitarian forms of action, by expending for the sake
of expenditure, the world is opened up to possibilities which remain unrealized under the
current hegemony. In this light, this dissertation begins to develop a definition of novelty as
that which forces a rereading of the system’s history. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie proefskrif onderneem hoofsaaklik om die omstandighede waaronder nuwigheid
binne ʼn stelsel ontstaan te verstaan. Daar word in die klassieke filosofie voorgehou dat
nuwigheid gewoonlik vanuit ʼn gebeurtenis ontstaan. Die idee van ʼn gebeurtenis hou egter
dikwels ongewenste metafisiese en konserwatiewe implikasies in. Hierdie proefskrif
onderneem dus om, deels, ʼn benadering tot nuwigheid te ontwikkel wat onafhanklik van die
gebeurtenis staan. Hierdie benadering word verder uitgebrei met behulp van insigte vanuit
die Kritiese Kompleksiteits‐ en Post‐Strukturalistiese filosofie.
Tot onlangs het die model van die raamwerk die wyse waarop daar oor die beperkinge van
die konteks‐spesifieke aard van kennis in die sosiale wetenskappe gedink word oorheers. In
hierdie proefskrif word voorgehou dat die idee van ʼn ‘ekonomie’ in plaas van die analogie
van ʼn raamwerk hier gebruik behoort te word, omdat dit ons sal toelaat om die verhoudings
binne die modelle wat deur sosiale wetenskaplikes gebruik word beter te verken. Verder
word die moontlike verbande tussen Jacques Derrida , die kompleksiteitsfilosoof Edgar
Morin en Georges Bataille teen hierdie agtergrond verken.
Wanneer daar van ʼn ekonomie gepraat word, moet die oormaat van die ekonomie altyd in
ag geneem word. Hierdie oormaat ontwrig altyd die ekonomie waarby dit uitgesluit word.
Om te wys hoe die stelsel van so ʼn oormaat gebruik maak om by sy omgewing aan te pas,
sal terminologie wat in die konteks van kompleksiteitsteorie ontwikkel is gebruik word. As
gevolg van die oorvloed binne ʼn stelsel sal daar nooit ʼn volledige model van die stelsel
ontwikkel kan word nie ‐‐ fasette van die stelsel sal altyd vir die waarnemer verborge bly.
Verder sal die werk van Alain Badiou, wie se filosofie rondom die idee van nuwigheid wat uit
ʼn gebeurtenis ontstaan gesentreed is, in hierdie verhandeling bespreek word. Die
implikasies van die idee dat nuwigheid van die gebeurtenis afhanklik is word uitgelig deur
die verwantskappe tussen die werke van Derrida en Badiou te bespreek. Derrida se gebruik
van die term ‘gebeurtenis’ dra ʼn noue verwantskap met kompleksiteitsteorie, en dit word
teenoor Badiou se amper‐godsdienstige gebruik van die term gestel. Daar word aangevoer
dat daar binne ʼn kompleksiteits‐ingeligte verstaan van ʼn gebeurtenis beide ʼn skaarste en ʼn oorvloed van moontlikhede bestaan wat vervul kan word. Daarom kan daar juis nié op die
gebeurtenis staatgemaak word om nuwigheid te skep nie.
Die idee van die gebeurtenis moet egter nie te gou verwerp word nie. As gevolg van die
klassieke wetenskap se reduksionisme is die idee van ʼn gebeurtenis tradisioneel ontken.
Daarteenoor ontsluit die idee van ʼn proses die moontlikheid van radikale nuwighede in die
geskiedenis as gevolg van ʼn verstaan van die gebeurtenis wat tot ʼn nuwe verstaan van die
ontologie lei. Hierdie proefskrif stel dus voor dat ons voortaan aan radikale nuwigheid dink
in terme van die denkbeeld van eksperimentering eerder as in terme van die gebeurtenis.
Eksperimentering laat ons toe om te werk met wat ons het, eerder as om op ʼn gebeurtenis
te moet wag. Na aanleiding van Bataille is die voorstel dat daar deur om te gaan met nieutilitaristiese
vorms van optrede nuwe geleenthede vir die wêreld oopgemaak word;
geleenthede wat onder die huidige hegemonie ongerealiseerd sal bly. In hierdie verband
stel die proefskrif ʼn definisie van nuwigheid voor as dít wat mens dwing om die geskiedenis
van ʼn stelsel te herformuleer.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:sun/oai:scholar.sun.ac.za:10019.1/18041 |
| Date | 12 1900 |
| Creators | Human, Oliver |
| Contributors | Cilliers, Paul, Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Philosophy. |
| Publisher | Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | en_ZA |
| Detected Language | Unknown |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | 280 p. |
| Rights | Stellenbosch University |
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