EVOLUTIONISM
| Collection | International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics |
|---|---|
| Year | 2004 |
| Vol. (num.) | 2(1) |
| ID | ◀ 1204 ▶ |
| Object type | General information, Epistemology, ontology or semantics |
The belief in evolutive models .
The scientific theory of evolution (E. SCHWARZ, 1993, p.5), … which is quite a different matter.
SCHWARZ adds a complementary definition in order to discuss more widely the general concept: “A philosophical attitude based on evolution”. He writes: “Evolutionist theories may have different connotations according to the disciplines. In natural sciences, evolutionist models (irreversible thermodynamics , nonlinear dynamics modelization of emergence and complexification in physics; Darwinism or Lamarckian transformism in biology) have positive connotations in comparison to models without a privileged time direction (classical mechanics), or fixist ones (creationism) in biology. On the contrary, in human sciences (ethnology, sociology , anthropology, etc…) evolutionist theories appeared during the colonial period, associating the evolution idea to progress (transition from the ”savagery“ to the ”civilized“ state). As a reaction other models appeared more recently in which the time problem has been sometimes abusively eliminated” (1993, p.6)
In short the evolutionist concept covers quite different meanings - and even intentions or prejudices- and should be carefully scrutinized wherever it appears