CLUMPERS and SPLITTERS
Charles François (2004). CLUMPERS and SPLITTERS, International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics, 2(1): 455.
| Collection | International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics |
|---|---|
| Year | 2004 |
| Vol. (num.) | 2(1) |
| ID | ◀ 455 ▶ |
| Object type | General information, Epistemology, ontology or semantics |
This amusing expression about two quite different types of minds (New Scientist, Nr. 2211, November 6th, 1999) surely deserves being included in this work.
- “Clumpers” would be the authors of grand unified philosophical or scientific theories. Newton or Darwin would be paradigmatic examples. As to “splitters”, the enormous majority of researchers in any discipline, they would be the hardworking, more or less anonymous toilers, painstakingly collecting myriads of small data or reduced specific models , which would one day allow for some breathtaking synthesis by some “clumper”… as for example the treasure of specific data obtained by numerous chemists, which were finally ordered by Mendeleiev, the clumper, in his famous periodic chart.
Systemists tend to be clumpers, but it should be very risky for them to ignore the laborious works of the splitters. As to the splitters, their work gather more sense and significance within the mental frame of already existing wide embracing theories… even if their discoveries may well lead to some shattering conceptual revolution.