Abstract
The knowledge perspective of Descartes’s Method was revolutionary, but rather skewed. The Cartesian view of reality explains change exclusively in reductionist-deterministic terms: the whole is the sum of its parts; the past (cause) determines the present (effect). Left out was the realization that life, in all its embodiments (from the simplest mono-cell to the complex human being) is goal driven.
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Notes
- 1.
The Latin root vid (as well as vis) means see. It is present in a good number of words in English—e.g., video, provide, evidence, providence, visual, invisible, view—and in Indo-European languages. It indicates that the way we see things informs our actions.
- 2.
Various languages have their own version: Praevenire melins est quam curare (Latin). Mieux vaut prévenir que guérir (French). Más vale prevenir que curar (Spanish). Vorsorge ist besser als Nachsorge (German). “ 預防勝於治療.” The literal translation is “prevention is better than cure.” “бoлeзнь лeгчe пpeдyпpeдить, чeм вылeчить”. “The disease is easier to prevent than to cure”.
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Nadin, M. (2023). CoVID—A Confluence of Breakdowns. In: Disrupt Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-43957-5_2
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