Rethinking Causality:
Pattern as the Science of Change
Linda Glassop
(Deakin University, Australia)The history of intellectual thought is remarkable. Homo sapiens
(wise man) have inhabited the Earth for around 200 000 years, yet
the tools of the intellect - science, mathematics and philosophy –
only emerged 2500 years ago. Even more surprising is that nearly
2000 years of intellectual thought elapsed before Copernicus
proposed, in 1543, that the Earth was not at the centre of the
universe! Conversely, in just 464 years since the acceptance of
Copernicus’ thesis, knowledge about the universe has gone from
relative obscurity to an unprecedented understanding of the smallest
aspects of reality – the quark – to the complexity of galaxies,
black holes and other cosmic features. As Gribbin (2001:xxii)
states: “Science is one of the greatest achievements…of the human
mind…” While the body of scientific knowledge accumulated by
wise man in a relatively short period of time is extensive, the
disparate sciences appear to be converging on similar grounds – the
systems sciences. At the close of the 20th century the scientific
quest seems to be the search for “A Theory of Everything” (Barrow
1991:1).
In this
book, Linda Glassop describes an integrative framework referred to
as the SOP model of change. The SOP model is derived from the notion
that structures (S) are organised (O) by processes (P). The concept
of SOP is relevant to any real thing, at any level of analysis. A
numerical representation of the SOP model is offered. What becomes
evident from the numerical representation is that the SOP model is
coherent and able to incorporate ideas about chaos and order, about
determinism and indeterminism, and about the relationship between
closed and open systems. The SOP model is offered as a step towards
the general organising principle, or single conceptual framework,
sought by Barrow, Bak and Kauffman, as a contribution to a “Theory
of Everything”
Dr
Linda Glassop is a Lecturer in Management at the Bowater School
of Management and Marketing at Deakin University, Melbourne,
Australia. Linda lectures in Organisational Behaviour,
Organisational Theory and Business Management. Prior to this, Linda
spent twenty years in industry, working with multi–national
corporations in a variety of management areas including business
operations, business strategy, marketing, process reengineering,
information systems design, quality management and change
management. Linda’s education and training covers a diverse range of
areas including: accounting, business management, psychoanalysis,
socio–analysis and systems theory. Linda is gifted with analytic,
problem–solving and strategic skills that have her admired for
making complex things seem simple. Linda moved into an academic
career ten years ago and has taught undergraduate and post–graduate
students for seven Australian universities. Originally trained as an
Accountant, Linda completed a Master of Business Administration (MBA,
Macq.) in 1992, a Graduate Certificate in Higher Education (GradCertHEd,
UNSW) in 1999, a Master of Philosophy in Commerce (MPhil, ANU) in
2000 and Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Deakin) in 2007. Linda is a
member of the International Society for the Systems Sciences (ISSS).
Contents
To Be or Not to Be?
A New Take on Classic
Persisting with Change
How
Many Parts?
Attending to Class
The
Numbers Game
The
Secrets in the Periodic Table of Elements
The
Marvel of DNA
But
What About?
The
Nature of Change
National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication data:
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Glassop, Linda Irene
Rethinking
Causality: Pattern as the Science of Change
Bibliography
Includes
index
ISBN 978-1-920889-18-0 (paper back)
ISBN 978-1-920889-19-7 (hard cover)
1. Causation. 2.
Science - Philosophy. 3. Philosophy and science. I. Title.
122
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