Since the 18th century, one phenomenon, the proportion of the sexes at birth among human beings, has contributed to various developments such as the calculus of probabilities, administrative statistics, the moral and social sciences, the statistics of variability, post-Darwinian biology and Durkheimian sociology. This fact is brought to the critical attention of readers who rarely work together -- mathematicians, biologists, historians, social scientists and historians of the sciences -- along a three centuries European journey, meeting Sussmilch, Condorcet, Laplace, Fourier, Girou de...
Since the 18th century, one phenomenon, the proportion of the sexes at birth among human beings, has contributed to various developments such as th...
Hierarchy is a form of organisation of complex systems that rely on or produce a strong differentiation in capacity (power and size) between the parts of the system. It is frequently observed within the natural living world as well as in social institutions. According to the authors, hierarchy results from random processes, follows an intentional design, or is the result of the organisation which ensures an optimal circulation of energy for information.
This book reviews ancient and modern representations and explanations of hierarchies, and compares their relevance in a variety of...
Hierarchy is a form of organisation of complex systems that rely on or produce a strong differentiation in capacity (power and size) between the pa...
The anti-causal prophecies of last century have been disproved. Causality is neither a 'relic of a bygone' nor 'another fetish of modern science'; it still occupies a large part of the current debate in philosophy and the sciences.
This investigation into causal modelling presents the rationale of causality, i.e. the notion that guides causal reasoning in causal modelling. It is argued that causal models are regimented by a rationale of variation, nor of regularity neither invariance, thus breaking down the dominant Human paradigm. The notion of variation is shown to be embedded in...
The anti-causal prophecies of last century have been disproved. Causality is neither a 'relic of a bygone' nor 'another fetish of modern science'; ...
Innovation is nowadays a question of life and death for many of the economies of the western world. Yet, due to our generally reductionist scientific paradigm, invention and innovation are rarely studied scientifically. Most work prefers to study its context and its consequences. As a result, we are as a society, lacking the scientific tools to understand, improve or otherwise impact on the processes of invention and innovation. This book delves deeply into that topic, taking the position that the complex systems approach, with its emphasis on emergence, is better suited than our...
Innovation is nowadays a question of life and death for many of the economies of the western world. Yet, due to our generally reductionist scientif...
Insights developed in the past two decades by philosophers of the social sciences can serve to enrich the challenging intellectual tasks of conceptualizing, investigating, and representing the human past. Likewise, intimate engagement with the writings of historians can deepen philosophers' understanding of the task of knowing the past. This volume brings these perspectives together and considers fundamental questions, such as: What is historical causation? What is a large historical structure? How can we best conceptualize "mentalities" and "identities"? What is involved in understanding the...
Insights developed in the past two decades by philosophers of the social sciences can serve to enrich the challenging intellectual tasks of conceptual...
This book offers an alternative view to current postmodern approaches to composition. It takes a critical realist stance to arrive at the "essence" of written communication with the aim of informing a practical application: a computerised writing tutor. Following Robert Franck's seminal work on modelling, a theoretical model of writing was first formulated, consisting of an architecture of functions which constitute the prerequisites for effective communication. Next, an applied model - a composing algorithm with an input option - was developed, showing composing to be a systemic social...
This book offers an alternative view to current postmodern approaches to composition. It takes a critical realist stance to arrive at the "essence"...
Empirical research often lacks theory. This book progressively works out a method of constructing models which can bridge the gap between empirical and theoretical research in the social sciences. This might improve the explanatory power of models. The issue is quite novel, and it benefited from a thorough examination of statistical and mathematical models, conceptual models, diagrams and maps, machines, computer simulations, and artificial neural networks. These modelling practices have been approached through different disciplines.
The proposed method is partly inspired by...
Empirical research often lacks theory. This book progressively works out a method of constructing models which can bridge the gap between empirical...
3 the observation focus on aggregate or individual behaviours? Will the meth ods used to identify the relationships between the values measured be the same or totally different depending on the level of observation? Can several aggregation levels be used simultaneously? and so on. The social scientist will also need to address the issue of time: Will it be historical time, in which the events studied unfold, or, on the contrary, the time lived by the individual who experiences the events? Will the observation point be a precise moment of that "lived" time, in order to explain the behaviours...
3 the observation focus on aggregate or individual behaviours? Will the meth ods used to identify the relationships between the values measured be the...
Beginning and well-seasoned researchers alike face significant challenges in understanding the complexities of research designs arising from both within and across methodological paradigms, and in applying them in ways that maximise impact on knowledge, practice, and policy. This volume engages educational and social researchers in a scholarly debate offering some crucial re-interpretations of established research methodologies in light of contemporary conditions and critical introduction to some contemporary research approaches yet to gain general recognition. This book is a contemporary...
Beginning and well-seasoned researchers alike face significant challenges in understanding the complexities of research designs arising from both with...
Since the 18th century, one phenomenon, the proportion of the sexes at birth among human beings, has contributed to various developments such as the calculus of probabilities, administrative statistics, the moral and social sciences, the statistics of variability, post-Darwinian biology and Durkheimian sociology. This fact is brought to the critical attention of readers who rarely work together -- mathematicians, biologists, historians, social scientists and historians of the sciences -- along a three centuries European journey, meeting Sussmilch, Condorcet, Laplace, Fourier, Girou de...
Since the 18th century, one phenomenon, the proportion of the sexes at birth among human beings, has contributed to various developments such as th...
