Order out of chaos

Paul McGarr (1990)

Published in International Socialism Journal no. 48, Autumn 1990, pp. 137-159.

Transcribed by Jørn Andersen for Marxisme Online, 1 december 2001.

Chaos theory is more misused than understood. Paul McGarr dismisses the bogus political use to which it has been put and shows why this new science is asking the same questions that have long been thought the idiosyncratic concern of Marxist philosophers.

Content

Introduction
From Newton to Laplace's Demon
Determinism, reversibility, reducibility and non-linearity
The dynamics of scientific development
Chaos
Order out of chaos
Dialectics or mysticism
Conclusion
Notes

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Last updated 28.6.13