Observing productivity: what it might mean to be productive when viewed through the lens of Complexity Theory

The paper tries to explore options and preconditions for a theoretically thoroughly grounded conception of productivity that is able to account for its observer-dependency and thereby meets the needs of a dynamic and highly differentiated modern society. It does so in respect to insights from Cybern...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The journal of philosophical economics 2012-11, Vol.VI (1), p.2-23
Main Author: Füllsack, Manfred
Format: Article
Language:eng ; ger
Subjects:
Anticipatory systems
Complexity
Computation
Cybernetics
Economic theory
Economy
Observer-dependence
Philosophy
Philosophy of Science
Productivity
Social Sciences
Social Theory
Socio-Economic Research
Sociology
Special Branches of Philosophy
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Summary:The paper tries to explore options and preconditions for a theoretically thoroughly grounded conception of productivity that is able to account for its observer-dependency and thereby meets the needs of a dynamic and highly differentiated modern society. It does so in respect to insights from Cybernetics and Complexity theory, thereby taking up charges about the contradiction of economic productivity and the Second Law of Thermodynamics. In respect to epistemological consequences of contemporary levels of productivity, a seemingly paradoxical constraint is put forward: the constraint that productivity is conditioned on being observed as such, with the observer in its turn being conditioned on productivity. The assumption is that this paradoxical constitution helps to keep productivity adaptive to the changes it itself incites in economy.
ISSN:1843-2298
1844-8208