The world is complex, but acknowledging its complexity requires an appreciation for the many roles context plays in shaping natural phenomena. In "Unsimple Truths", Sandra Mitchell argues that the long-standing scientific and philosophical deference to reductive explanations founded on simple universal laws, linear causal models, and predict-and-act strategies fails to accommodate the kinds of knowledge that many contemporary sciences are providing about the world. She advocates instead for a new understanding that represents the rich, variegated, interdependent fabric of many levels and kinds of explanation that are integrated with one another to ground effective prediction and action. Mitchell draws from diverse fields, including psychiatry, social insect biology, and studies of climate change, to defend 'integrative pluralism' - a theory of scientific practices that makes sense of how many natural and social sciences represent the multilevel, multicomponent, dynamic structures they study. She explains how we must, in light of the now-acknowledged complexity and contingency of biological and social systems, revise how we conceptualize the world, how we investigate the world, and how we act in the world. Ultimately, "Unsimple Truths" argues that the very idea of what should count as legitimate science itself should change.

About the Author
Sandra Mitchell is professor in the Department of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Pittsburgh and the author of Biological Complexity and Integrative Pluralism.

Reviews
"A manifesto in favor of a new epistemology of science premised on a careful assessment of the current state of biological research, Unsimple Truths is accessible, well written, and important. Simply superb." - Jason Scott Robert, Arizona State University"



Book Information
ISBN 9780226532622
Author Sandra D. Mitchell
Format Hardback
Page Count 160
Imprint University of Chicago Press
Publisher The University of Chicago Press
Weight(grams) 312g
Dimensions(mm) 23mm * 14mm * 2mm