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One word of warning. As far as I am aware, "Chaos Theory" is pretty much universally accepted as a term referring to the mathematical theory of chaos. This theory has been applied in the sciences to help understand complex behaviour and enlisted by others as support for certain epistemelogical stances.
Strictly speaking, however, it is not an epistemologic theory that says that reality is a very complex system of multiple causes and consequences, and thus scientific explanations are really just a part of the whole set.
IMHO, chaos theory does provide some support for this view but not as much as is usually claimed for it. And it is usually misrepresented. For instance, Chaos Theory, as I understand it, is the study of deterministic systems. Admittedly, there may be a non-mathematical Chaos Theory that has nothing to do with that.
Anyway, I don't think that chaos theory gives you epistemological conclusions that wouldn't have been clear without it.
Then again, you probably shouldn't listen to me, since I tend to see the "science is but one narrative" approach as usually signalling a political agenda rather than as an attempt to resolve epistemelogical problems. |
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