Complexity and Scales: The Challenge

Authors

  • Mario Giampietro National Research Institute on Food and Nutrition (INRAN), Rome, Italy

Keywords:

hierarchy theory, complexity, scaling, integrated assessment, non-equivalent descriptive domains, post-normal science.

Abstract

‘‘Complexity,’’ in science, can be linked to the need of using, in parallel, not reducible models (= the coexistence of non-equivalent descriptive domains required) for a useful representation of a certain phenomenon. This is always the case, when dealing with: (1) nested hierarchical systems in which relevant patterns are detectable only on different space-time scales; and (2) socioeconomic systems in which agents are not only non-equivalent observers, but also reflexive.

Downloads

Published

2005-02-28

Issue

Section

Articles