Complexity, Difference and Identity

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Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN 13 : 9048191874
Total Pages : 273 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (481 download)

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Book Synopsis Complexity, Difference and Identity by : Paul Cilliers

Download or read book Complexity, Difference and Identity written by Paul Cilliers and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2010-06-29 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Complexity" has been part of the academic discourse for a decade or two. Texts on Complexity fall mainly in two categories: fairly technical and mathematical on the one hand, and fairly broad, vague and general on the other. Paul Cilliers’ book Complexity and Postmodernism. Understanding Complex Systems (Routledge 1998) constituted an attempt to bridge this divide by reflecting more rigorously on the philosophical implications of complexity, and by making it accessible to the social sciences. This edited volume is a continuation of this project, with specific reference to the ethical implications of acknowledging complexity. These issues are pertinent to our understanding of organisations and institutions and could contribute significantly to the development of a richer understanding of ethics in business and would be a useful tool for teachers, researchers and post-graduate students with ethical concerns in disciplines ranging from Philosophy, Applied Ethics, Sociology, Organisational Studies, Political Science, Anthropology and Cultural Studies. The central theme which binds all the contributions together is: the inevitability of normative and ethical issues when dealing with complex phenomena. The book should thus be useful in the development of Business Ethics on two levels: in the first place on the level of developing a strong theoretical foundation, in the second place in providing specific examples of this theory in action in the real world.

Critical Complexity

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Publisher : Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
ISBN 13 : 150150259X
Total Pages : 302 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (15 download)

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Book Synopsis Critical Complexity by : Rika Preiser

Download or read book Critical Complexity written by Rika Preiser and published by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. This book was released on 2016-07-11 with total page 302 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is a collection of all the single authored essays by Paul Cilliers, published between 1990-2011. Being one of few authors who approached the study of complexity from a philosophical perspective, the main themes in these papers explore: - Qualitative characterization of complexity and the normative implications of studying complex adaptive systems, - the philosophical and conceptual similarity to post-structural approaches - how any engagement with complexity leads to a critical engagement with how we do science and design interventions - critical and normative implications for how to engage with complex socio-political concerns in the world. What makes this book unique is that it consolidates a body of work that is distributed over a wide range of academic journals. Although his book "Complexity and Postmodernism" (Routledge, 1998) remains a cornerstone in the field of complexity studies, Cilliers’ journal essays really explore the application of the theoretical concepts in more depth. His ground-breaking ideas conceptualized in these essays have served as a continual source of novelty and inspiration in the process of applying complexity thinking to other fields of study.

Complexity Theory and Law

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Author :
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1351658174
Total Pages : 292 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (516 download)

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Book Synopsis Complexity Theory and Law by : Jamie Murray

Download or read book Complexity Theory and Law written by Jamie Murray and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2018-07-17 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This collection of essays explores the different ways the insights from complexity theory can be applied to law. Complexity theory – a variant of systems theory – views law as an emergent, complex, self-organising system comprised of an interactive network of actors and systems that operate with no overall guiding hand, giving rise to complex, collective behaviour in law communications and actions. Addressing such issues as the unpredictability of legal systems, the ability of legal systems to adapt to changes in society, the importance of context, and the nature of law, the essays look to the implications of a complexity theory analysis for the study of public policy and administrative law, international law and human rights, regulatory practices in business and finance, and the practice of law and legal ethics. These are areas where law, which craves certainty, encounters unending, irresolvable complexity. This collection shows the many ways complexity theory thinking can reshape and clarify our understanding of the various problems relating to the theory and practice of law.

Bridging Complexity and Post-Structuralism

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Publisher : Springer
ISBN 13 : 3319390473
Total Pages : 205 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (193 download)

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Book Synopsis Bridging Complexity and Post-Structuralism by : Minka Woermann

Download or read book Bridging Complexity and Post-Structuralism written by Minka Woermann and published by Springer. This book was released on 2016-09-27 with total page 205 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This work addresses the topic of philosophical complexity, which shares certain assumptions with scientific complexity, cybernetics, and General Systems Theory, but which is also developing as a subject field in its own right. Specifically, the post-structural reading of philosophical complexity that was pioneered by Paul Cilliers is further developed in this study. To this end, the ideas of a number of contemporary French post-structural theorists and their predecessors - including Derrida, Nancy, Bataille, Levinas, Foucault, Saussure, Nietzsche, Heidegger, and Hegel - are introduced. The implications that their various insights hold for our understanding of complex human systems are teased out at the hand of the themes of economy, (social) ontology, subjectivity, epistemology, and ethics. The analyses are also illuminated at the hand of the problematic of the foreigner and the related challenges of showing hospitality to foreigners. The study presents a sophisticated account of both philosophical complexity and philosophies of difference. By relating these subject fields, the study also extends our understanding of philosophical complexity, and offers an original characterisation of the aforementioned philosophers as complex thinkers.

Handbook on Complexity and Public Policy

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Publisher : Edward Elgar Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1782549528
Total Pages : 496 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (825 download)

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Book Synopsis Handbook on Complexity and Public Policy by : Robert Geyer

Download or read book Handbook on Complexity and Public Policy written by Robert Geyer and published by Edward Elgar Publishing. This book was released on 2015-05-29 with total page 496 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'Over recent years Complexity Science has revealed to us new limits to our possible knowledge and control in social, cultural and economic systems. Instead of supposing that past statistics and patterns will give us predictable outcomes for possible actions, we now know the world is, and will always be, creative and surprising. Continuous structural evolution within such systems may change the mechanisms, descriptors, problems and opportunities, often negating policy aims. We therefore need to redevelop our thinking about interventions, policies and policy making, moving perhaps to a humbler, more 'learning' approach. In this Handbook, leading thinkers in multiple domains set out these new ideas and allow us to understand how these new ideas are changing policymaking and policies in this new era.' - Peter M Allen, Cranfield University, UK

Complexity, Science and Society

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Publisher : CRC Press
ISBN 13 : 1315347032
Total Pages : 273 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (153 download)

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Book Synopsis Complexity, Science and Society by : Jan Bogg

Download or read book Complexity, Science and Society written by Jan Bogg and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2017-11-22 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'The following sections are a very good representation of the core developments of complexity thinking in a number of major fields. Our intention is to provide an accessible interdisciplinary introduction to the wonderful intellectual breadth that complexity can offer.' - Jan Bogg and Robert Geyer in the Introduction. Complexity is a new and exciting interdisciplinary approach to science and society that challenges traditional academic divisions, frameworks and paradigms. This book helps the expert, student or policy practitioner have a better understanding of the enormous potential of complexity, and how it relates to their particular area of interest or expertise. It provides excellent representations of the core developments of complexity thinking in a number of major fields. "Complexity, Science and Society" brings together an unrivalled selection of new applications of complexity from leading experts across subjects including medicine and healthcare, education, public policy and social theory, ecology, philosophy, international politics, the arts, modelling and design, and others. Together they offer an unprecedented review of the latest developments. This book is an accessible interdisciplinary introduction to the wonderful intellectual breadth that complexity can offer.

Complexity Theory and the Social Sciences

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Author :
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1134084919
Total Pages : 310 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (34 download)

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Book Synopsis Complexity Theory and the Social Sciences by : David Byrne

Download or read book Complexity Theory and the Social Sciences written by David Byrne and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-09-11 with total page 310 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For the past two decades, ‘complexity’ has informed a range of work across the social sciences. There are diverse schools of complexity thinking, and authors have used these ideas in a multiplicity of ways, from health inequalities to the organization of large scale firms. Some understand complexity as emergence from the rule-based interactions of simple agents and explore it through agent-based modelling. Others argue against such ‘restricted complexity’ and for the development of case-based narratives deploying a much wider set of approaches and techniques. Major social theorists have been reinterpreted through a complexity lens and the whole methodological programme of the social sciences has been recast in complexity terms. In four parts, this book seeks to establish ‘the state of the art’ of complexity-informed social science as it stands now, examining: the key issues in complexity theory the implications of complexity theory for social theory the methodology and methods of complexity theory complexity within disciplines and fields. It also points ways forward towards a complexity-informed social science for the twenty-first century, investigating the argument for a post-disciplinary, ‘open’ social science. Byrne and Callaghan consider how this might be developed as a programme of teaching and research within social science. This book will be particularly relevant for, and interesting to, students and scholars of social research methods, social theory, business and organization studies, health, education, urban studies and development studies.

Transdisciplinary Sustainability Studies

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Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1135007438
Total Pages : 216 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (35 download)

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Book Synopsis Transdisciplinary Sustainability Studies by : Katri Huutoniemi

Download or read book Transdisciplinary Sustainability Studies written by Katri Huutoniemi and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2014-06-05 with total page 216 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Arising out of human-environment interaction, sustainability problems resist disciplinary categories and simple solutions. This book offers a fresh approach to practical and methodological concerns in transdisciplinary environmental and sustainability studies. It illustrates methodological means by which researchers, professionals, and decision-makers can address complex environmental issues. While scientific reasoning is mostly guided by disciplinary traditions, transdisciplinary research rests on other cognitive strategies. As it does not have a ready-made stance toward problems, figuring out what the puzzle is and what the answer might look like are crucial aspects of transdisciplinary inquiry. Through examples from environment and sustainability studies, the volume discusses heuristic schemes that can give structure to this exploration. By focusing on heuristics, rather than on methods, concepts, or general guidelines, the book argues that a problem-centered approach often resists the rigor of methodology. Learning from experience provides valuable “rules of thumb”, checklists, and other cognitive schemes for making ill-defined problems more tangible. Written by an international team of authors, the chapters draw examples from dealing with issues in environmental protection, transport and climate policy, ecosystem services and disservices, environmental beliefs and attitudes, and more. Together with more theoretically oriented chapters, they show that the intellectual processes needed to tackle complex sustainability problems are as much about heuristic problem solving as they are about methodical work.

Transforming Transformation in Research and Teaching at South African Universities

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Publisher : AFRICAN SUN MeDIA
ISBN 13 : 1928480063
Total Pages : 544 pages
Book Rating : 4.9/5 (284 download)

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Book Synopsis Transforming Transformation in Research and Teaching at South African Universities by : Rob Pattman

Download or read book Transforming Transformation in Research and Teaching at South African Universities written by Rob Pattman and published by AFRICAN SUN MeDIA. This book was released on 2018-12-21 with total page 544 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What is transformation in contemporary South African higher education? How can it be facilitated through research and pedagogic practices? These questions are addressed in this edited collection by established academics and emerging research students from nine South African universities. The chapters give us access to students? worlds: how they construct, experience and navigate their complex spheres, on and off campus. By engaging with students as knowledge producers, we transform popular ways of thinking about race, gender, class, sexuality, disability and age as singular and natural markers of difference and diversity.ÿ Rather than taking diversity as fixed and rooted in nature, we explore how diversity is imagined and lived in particular contexts on and off campus.

Emergent Information

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Publisher : World Scientific
ISBN 13 : 9814313483
Total Pages : 291 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (143 download)

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Book Synopsis Emergent Information by : Wolfgang Hofkirchner

Download or read book Emergent Information written by Wolfgang Hofkirchner and published by World Scientific. This book was released on 2012 with total page 291 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At the dawn of the information age, a proper understanding of information and how it relates to matter and energy is of utmost importance for the survival of civilisation. Yet, attempts to reconcile information concepts underlying science and technology with those en vogue in social science, humanities, and arts are rather rare. This book offers a new approach, departing from fragmented information concepts.Many academics refrain from undergoing unifications, as most undertakings are reductionistic. This book contends that it is the noble task of an as-yet-to-be-developed science of information to go one step in the direction of a unified theory of information without falling back into neither reduction nor anthropomorphisation.To be able to succeed in an ambitious task like this, the book advocates the application of complex systems theory and its philosophical underpinnings. Information needs to be interpreted in terms of self-organisation to do justice to the richness of its manifestations. The way the book does so will provide the reader with a deep insight into a basic feature of our world.The following are discussed in the volume: A Science of Information; A New Way of Thinking; Praxio-Onto-Epistemology; Evolutionary Systems Design; Evolutionary Systems Ontology; Evolutionary Systems Methodology; Capurro's Information Concept Trilemma; A Multi-Stage Model of Evolutionary Types of Information: Pattern Formation, Code-Making, and Constituting Sense; A Triple-C Model of Systemic Functions of Information: Cognising, Communicating, and Co-Operating; Nine Categories of Information Capabilities: Reflectivity (physical), Psyche (biotic), Consciousness (human); Connectivity (physical), Signalability (biotic), Languageability (human); Cohesiveness (physical), Coherency (biotic), Communitarity (human); Nine Categories of Information: Response (physical), Flexible Response (biotic), Reflexion (human); Correspondences (physical), Signals (biotic), Symbolic Acts (human); Assemblage (physical), Assignment (biotic), Association (human); A Unified Theory of Information for, about, and by means of the Information Society.

Researching Second Language Learning and Teaching from a Psycholinguistic Perspective

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Publisher : Springer
ISBN 13 : 331931954X
Total Pages : 272 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (193 download)

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Book Synopsis Researching Second Language Learning and Teaching from a Psycholinguistic Perspective by : Dagmara Gałajda

Download or read book Researching Second Language Learning and Teaching from a Psycholinguistic Perspective written by Dagmara Gałajda and published by Springer. This book was released on 2016-04-20 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This edited collection explores the processes of second language learning and teaching from a psycholinguistic perspective. Authored by leading experts in the field, the book includes studies focusing on theoretical, empirical and practical aspects of second and foreign language education. Part One offers contributions devoted to a range of learner-related factors, dealing with affective and cognitive variables, the process of reading and the acquisition of lexis. Part Two brings together papers related to teacher awareness of second language instruction that focus on conversational styles, fostering intercultural pragmatics, teacher job satisfaction, the development of instructional materials and challenges of teacher training in different contexts. It is of interest to researchers as well as graduate and postgraduate students seeking fresh inspirations for their own empirical investigations of the ways in which second and foreign languages are taught and learned.

Defining Iran

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Publisher : Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.
ISBN 13 : 1409489264
Total Pages : 208 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (94 download)

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Book Synopsis Defining Iran by : Dr Shabnam J Holliday

Download or read book Defining Iran written by Dr Shabnam J Holliday and published by Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.. This book was released on 2013-03-28 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Defining Iran presents a new and revealing analysis of the way in which Iranian political discourses compete with each other by examining them within the framework of national identity construction. By deconstructing the intellectual roots and development of Iranian national identity, Shabnam Holliday advocates the need to study Iran's heritage and historical experience to understand key shifts and processes in contemporary Iranian politics. Holliday convincingly argues that competing discourses of national identity advocated by political figures from Musaddiq to the current administration demonstrate a politics of resistance to both internal and external forces. With a particular emphasis on Khatami’s presidency, this study compares the meanings attached by significant members of the Iranian political elite to concepts including Iran’s pre-Islamic heritage, Islamic heritage, civilization, 'democracy' and the 'West'. Furthermore, discourses of Iranian national identity exist not in isolation but rather as part of a continuous process construction and reconstruction in Iran's journey of political development; a process manifested so vividly in the revolution of 1979 and the fallout from the 2009 presidential election. Defining Iran simultaneously furthers our understanding of the conceptualization of national identity both generally and specifically in the case of Iran and political dynamics which shape contemporary Iran.

Qualitative Complexity

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Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1134327706
Total Pages : 320 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (343 download)

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Book Synopsis Qualitative Complexity by : John Smith

Download or read book Qualitative Complexity written by John Smith and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2006-02-01 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Offering a critique of the humanist paradigm in contemporary social theory, Qualitative Complexity is the first comprehensive sociological analysis of complexity theory. Drawing from sources in sociology, philosophy, complexity theory, 'fuzzy logic', systems theory, cognitive science and evolutionary biology, John Smith and Chris Jenks present a new series of interdisciplinary perspectives on the sociology of complex, self-organizing structures.

The Humanist Imperative in South Africa

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Publisher : African Sun Media
ISBN 13 : 1920338632
Total Pages : 299 pages
Book Rating : 4.9/5 (23 download)

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Book Synopsis The Humanist Imperative in South Africa by : John W. De Gruchy

Download or read book The Humanist Imperative in South Africa written by John W. De Gruchy and published by African Sun Media. This book was released on 2011-08-01 with total page 299 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is an outcome of the conversation that occurred during the five days of intense discussion at two symposia initiated by the New Humanism Project. The struggle for a more humane society is both local and universal, and increasingly these are connected in our time. So while the conversation focused specifically on South Africa, the discussion was neither parochial nor insular in its scope and character. Hopefully, then, people beyond South Africa will find the contents of this book of value for them in terms of their own contexts.

Observing Complexity

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Publisher : U of Minnesota Press
ISBN 13 : 1452903921
Total Pages : 318 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (529 download)

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Book Synopsis Observing Complexity by : William Rasch

Download or read book Observing Complexity written by William Rasch and published by U of Minnesota Press. This book was released on with total page 318 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The rubric of systems theory brings together conceptual models and approaches in the sciences and social sciences that study complexity. It attempts to provide a coherent means of describing all systems, whether organic or inorganic, and offers a theory of knowledge that can account for the integration of humans in the social, informational, and ecological systems in which we are enmeshed. An introduction to the major concepts and foremost thinkers of systems theory, this book brings systems theory into interaction with the major figures of postmodern theory. The format is multiplex and open -- a rich montage, including interviews, exemplary essays, and staged dialogues. Throughout, the writers' aim is not to solidity theory but to provide a thorough explication and an open-ended exploration of how systems theory can address, in a fresh and productive way, theoretical questions that too often have led to impasses between different schools of postmodern theory.

The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Social Science

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Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0195392752
Total Pages : 676 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (953 download)

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Book Synopsis The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Social Science by : Harold Kincaid

Download or read book The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Social Science written by Harold Kincaid and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2012-08-23 with total page 676 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The philosophy of the social sciences considers the underlying explanatory powers of the social (or human) sciences, such as history, economics, anthropology, politics, and sociology. The type of questions covered includes the methodological (the nature of observations, laws, theories, and explanations) to the ontological — whether or not these sciences can explain human nature in a way consistent with common-sense beliefs. This Handbook is a major, comprehensive look at the key ideas in the field, is guided by several principles. The first is that the philosophy of social science should be closely connected to, and informed by, developments in the sciences themselves. The second is that the volume should appeal to practicing social scientists as well as philosophers, with the contributors being both drawn from both ranks, and speaking to ongoing controversial issues in the field. Finally, the volume promotes connections across the social sciences, with greater internal discussion and interaction across disciplinary boundaries.

Cultural Hybridity

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Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1135758999
Total Pages : 300 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (357 download)

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Book Synopsis Cultural Hybridity by : Kwok-Bun Chan

Download or read book Cultural Hybridity written by Kwok-Bun Chan and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-09-13 with total page 300 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book brings together a group of scholars from diverse disciplines to interrogate everyday life events in various interpersonal and organizational contexts so as to answer an age-old question: what happens when (carriers of) cultures meet, or, when East meets West? The contributors to this volume argue that, rather than assume clashes of civilizations, assimilation, conversion and essentialism to be the expected outcomes of cultural encounters, we should focus our analytical attention on processes rather than outcomes; on emergence, dialectics, contradictions, ironies and paradoxes, and complexity. We should focus on attempting to learn and grow, to synthesize and integrate, to create and innovate, to change and transform, at personal, micro, macro and global levels. Or, in one word: hybridity. Contexts of cultural encounters analyzed in this book range from business organizations, through individual travels, to personal philosophies, and from mechanical models to complex systems as social imaginaries. This book is based on a special issue of World Futures: The Journal of General Evolution.