The Euro Mediterranean Management Approach : 3' Holism, constructivism and scientific practice an in

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The Euro Mediterranean Management Approach 3.
Holism, constructivism and scientific
practice(an input from philosophy of science)

• Prof dr Walter Baets, HDR
• Director Graduate Programs
• Professor Complexity and Knowledge Management
• Euromed Marseille Ecole de Management

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The Euro-Mediterranean Management Model/Approach
Individual

• Management control
• Market forecasting
• HR evaluation
• Accounting
• Finance
• Logistic

• Personal development
• Leadership
• Making a difference
• Self motivation
• Self realization
• Respect
• Responsibility
• Enjoy

Mechanistic approach (everything is
measurable, under control)
Personal Development (Learner centered)
Interior
Exterior

• Dynamic systems behavior
• Complexity
• Diversity
• Knowledge network
• Community of practice
• Ecological management
• Sustainable development (technical)
• Network economy
• Emergence, innovation

Holistic Approach (Whole is more than the sum of
the elements)
Euro- Mediterranean Values and Beliefs

• Sustainable development (choices)
• Social responsibility
• Diversity
• Constructivism
• Relativism
• Innovation

Collective
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Definitions
Philosophy 1. Pursuit of wisdom 2. Search for
general understanding of values and reality by
chiefly speculative rather than observational
means 3. The study of knowledge Epistemology Vie
ws about the nature, the sources and the limits
of knowledge (what makes true beliefs into
knowledge)
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Definitions (2)
Ontology Philosophical investigation of existence
or being 1. What means being 2. What
exists An ontology is what philosophers take to
exist The ontology of a theory is the things that
have to exist for a theory to be true Is
philosophy a scientific discipline in its own
right, or rather an umbrella for every action or
decision ?
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The role of the scientist / philosopher of science
Picture science within its contemporary framework
(not in the absolute) Provide a framework
that allows judgement about the
epistemological relevance of a theory (or
application) Philosophy of science is often
embedded in sociology and history (other
than philosophy that often develops its own
logic)
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My taxonomy of philosophy of science
Historical embedding Origin
Philosophical theories
Design consequences
Logical positivism (Wiener Kreis) Critical
rationalism (Popper) Kuhns paradigm
theory Lakatos theory Symbolic interactionism Crit
ical theories
Philosophy
Deduction Induction Empiricism Hypotheses
testing Qualitative research
Architecture Arts Usefulness as a criteria
Feyerabends chaostheory Postmodern
theories (Derida, Apostel, Foucault, Deleuze)
Design paradigm (van Aken) Social construction
of reality Design norms
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My taxonomy of philosophy of science/2
Historical embedding Origin
Philosophical theories
Design consequences
Neurobiology
Radical constructivism (Maturana,
Mingers) Autopoiesis (Varela) Self-reference
(Gödel)
Dynamic re-creation The emergence of object and
subject Local (contextual) validity
Cognitive Artificial Intelligence
Paradigm of mind (Franklin, Kim)
Adaptive systems Implicit learning
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The researchers dilemma
Researchers prior and ongoing exposure to, and
socialization into, intellectual, social and
political traditions, mores, norms and values
Researchers code of ethics
Researchers philosophy concerning human behavior
Researchers epistemology
Researcher Research problem
Research context Research strategy
Subsequent findings and its validity
The impact of the unforeseen (opportunity
or threat)
Researchers understanding of the
political context
Researchers resource constraints
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The pre-history of philosophy of science
Pre-Cartesian/Pre-Galilean period (before 17th
century) Church is the seat of science Science
exists to confirm religion Science is the common
sense In fact it is holistic 17th to the 19th
century I think,therefor I am Experimentation The
role of the researcher as involved subject was
not (yet) questioned Absolute Newtonian
framework (absolute time and space
concept) Measurability The end of holistic
thinking in science
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The 20th century
Breakthrough of relativity theory (Einstein)
(objective measurement can no longer be claimed)
and quantum mechanics (it is all
interpretation) Comparing the validity of
theories (e.g. Lorentz versus Einstein)
needs different methods 1931 Gödels theorem
(general validity of symbolic reasoning can
no longer be claimed)
Box of Pandora
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Logical empiricism Logical positivism (Wiener
Kreis)
Around 1920-1930 Based on physics, natural
sciences, mathematics Bacon (1516-1626) and Hume
(1711-1776) empiricism Descartes (1596-1651)
rationalism Members Carnap, Neurath, Schlick,
Reichenbach (Berlin), Gödel philosophers
Nagel, Hempel, Ayer Clarity and consistency is
the credo (against endless metaphysical
controversies) Verification criterium is
central what cannot be verified is not true
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How to verify statements (that are not
immediately verifiable) Built them on a
rockbottom of science (what is
empirical) Construct it with logic (axiomatic
systems) Context of discovery is what a
scientist does Context of justification
philosophers work Nazism forced a lot of them
to move to the US, where they created
analytical philosophy
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Critical rationalism
Popper 1902 - 1994 Principle of
falsification Knowledge needs continuously
improved (characteristic) Induction is not
always valid from all observed A are B to all
A are B Only knowledge as a product is
important an epistemology without a knowing
subject No context of discovery
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Causality is a consequence of the methodology,
not a concept in itself (in line with logical
empiricism) Scientific discovery leads from the
known to the unknown Unity of method in all
empirical sciences, including social
sciences The idea that the development of a
society can be forecasted (and hence is fixed)
is for Popper a serious threat for freedom and
democracy (political or scientific viewpoint
?) Subject of social sciences is rational
choice decisions
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Kuhns paradigm theory (1922 - 1996)
Confronted prevailing philosophies with the
history of science History of science did not
follow its own rules Particularly influential in
the social sciences Science always fits within a
context, a time-period Science is also a
potential act who fits best the
political situation
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Not the method makes the difference, but the
social acceptance (peer evaluation) Context of
discovery and context of justification cannot be
subdivided Methodological rules for theories are
never mandatory, it are choices Periods of
normal sciences peer evaluation
scientific revolution choices (cf
Lakatos)
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Symbolic interactionism
Developed within the social sciences Opposes
logical positivism Opposes the object/subject
viewpoint of critical rationalism Cause-effect
relationships (Popper) are replaced by
reason- behavior It attempts to understand,
(predict) and influence George Herbert Mead
(1863-1932) based on pragmatism of John Dewey
(1859-1952)
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Pragmatism truth is based on usability (see
design paradigm) based only on what can be
observed (against metaphysics) No value free
science A lot of behavior is rule-based, social
context decides the rules Social context is
expressed in symbols (signs) Interactionism
refers to the dynamics of the process Does this
theory re-introduces a holistic view ?
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Feyerabends Chaos Theory (1924-1994)
Scientific practice in contrast with scientific
method. Observation non-experts identified new
developments against prevailing assumptions in
the scientific community. Science is essentially
anarchic enterprise theoretical anarchism is
more humanitarian and more likely to encourage
progress than its law-and-order alternatives. The
only principle that does not inhibit progress
is anything goes. We may advance science by
proceeding counterinductively In fact a
postmodern view on science
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Design paradigm for management applications
Business research between academia and
professionals Scholarly quality and managerial
relevance Types of science Formal sciences
philosophy, mathematics Explanatory sciences
natural sciences, social sciences Design
sciences engineering, medical,
psychotherapy, management Mission develop
knowledge to be used in design and realization
of artefacts construction problems improveme
nt problems
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Problem of the professional translate general
knowledge to a unique case. Design repertoire
contains object knowledge realization
knowledge process knowledge a design
language generic models prescriptions. Design
sciences are not primarily interested in what is,
but in what can be.
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Tested and grounded technological rules is a
typical research product of design
science Typical research design is clinical
research research on the effect of
interventions Typical research cycle will be
multiple cases (solved) with a reflective cycle
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Self-producing systems, autopoiesis radical
constructivism, self-reference
Maturana, Varela, Gödel, Mingers Biological
principle of self-producing systems
Autopoeisis Has been interpreted a lot by
different fields, differently In opposition to
the focus on species and genes, Maturana
and Varela pick out the single, biological
individual (e.g. an amoebae) as the central
example of a living system Individual autonomy,
self-defined entities within an organism
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Living systems operate in an essentially
mechanistic way. The overall behavior of the
whole is generated purely by the components and
its interactions Observers are external to the
system. Observers perceive both an entity and
its environment. Components within an entity
act purely in response to other components Any
explanation of living systems should be
nonteleological, having no recourse to idea of
purpose, goal, ends and functions Living
systems are autopoietic (self-producing) circular
, self-referring organization
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Implications of autopoiesis
Plus ça change, plus cest la même
chose Organizational closure (immune system,
nervous system, social system) Structural
determinism Dynamic systems interact with the
environment through their structure Inputs
(perturbations) and outputs (compensations) Struct
ural coupling adaptation where the environment
does not specify the adaptive changes that will
occur Self-production was not only specified for
biological systems (computer generated models
human organizations, law)
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Philosophical implications of autopoiesis
Epistemological and ontological
presuppositions It constitutes a theory about
the observer It implies there is no claim to
objectivity Beliefs and theories are purely
human constructs which constitute rather than
reflect reality constructivism Biology of
cognition (1970) observer is the system in
which description takes place
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Ontology of autopoiesis
Perceptions and experiences occur through and are
mediated by our bodies and nervous
systems Therefor it is impossible for us to
generate a description that is a pure
description of reality, independent of
ourselves Experience always reflects the
observer There is no object of our knowledge, it
is distinguished by the observer
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Epistemology of autopoiesis
Validation of knowledge is the maintenance of
successful autopoiesis. Proper scientific
methodology includes specifying the
observer. Scientific statements are validated
by scientific method, which is used to produce
them, not by correspondence to an external
world. Logic itself is common to all
domains. Methodology is important.
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Some further remarks
Humans are linguistic animals playing the praxis
of living The experience of the observer is
crucial, rather than events in the world The
role of discourse and language Constructivism
finds it difficult to explain scientific
change and, a fortiori, scientific progress
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Design consequences of radical constructivism
Dynamic re-creation The merger and emergence of
object and subject (goes against
objectivism) Concept of local (conceptual)
validity Connectionist research
approaches Language plays an important
role Self-reference as the principle for
academic validity Self-reference as a quality
of autopoietic systems (balance)