GLOBAL AND LOCAL
| Collection | International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics |
|---|---|
| Year | 2004 |
| Vol. (num.) | 2(1) |
| ID | ◀ 1434 ▶ |
| Object type | General information, Human sciences |
G.L. FARRE makes the following important point: “The global and the local: the first is purely conceptual, while the second is ultimately sensorial”(2000, p. 245)
He adds: “Observation is a mix of the two, the former being projected onto the other. There is no case where the one is got without the other in the context of the sciences of nature”(Ibid)
This is significant in various way:
- the global view is always constructed. It is in fact a constructed frame of reference . It is thus always subject to reform and falsifiable in Popper's meaning
- this applies to the hypothetical general “theory of everything”as well as to the current theories about so-called globalization in human affairs (ecology, economy, social conditions, cultures)
- as different people may have quite different mind frames , both the global and the local view should be viewed as relative, avoiding definitive unilateral and exclusivist stances. Even the scientific history of the 19th and 20th centuries shows as much.