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Chaos, Computability, Determinism, and Freedom: A Critical Analysis from a System-Theoretic Point of View

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Integrative Systems Approaches to Natural and Social Dynamics

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Abstract

First, a résumé of modern chaos research is given which clarifies the epistemological implications of “deterministic chaos”. Second, I will explicate which type of concept of freedom seems to be the most plausible to me. For this purpose I will briefly explicate my philosophical premises, then I will justify why I think that attempts to justify “freedom” on the grounds of chaos research and quantum theory are not convincing. Finally, I will discuss the basic aspects of a system-theoretic determination model of “action-decision-freedom”, which allows for the compatibility of “freedom” and “determinism”, for integrating important criteria of rational decision processes, for grasping intuitive aspects of the subjective“experience of freedom”, and for letting “action-decision-freedom” become an object of empirical investigation.

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Authors
  1. Theodor Leiber
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Environmental Systems Research, University of Osnabrück, 49069, Osnabrück, Germany

    Michael Matthies  & Horst Malchow  & 

  2. Department of Psychology and Health Sciences, University of Osnabrück, 49069, Osnabrück, Germany

    Jürgen Kriz

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Leiber, T. (2001). Chaos, Computability, Determinism, and Freedom: A Critical Analysis from a System-Theoretic Point of View. In: Matthies, M., Malchow, H., Kriz, J. (eds) Integrative Systems Approaches to Natural and Social Dynamics. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-56585-4_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-56585-4_2

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-62526-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-56585-4

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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