Squaring the Circle: In Quest for Sustainability

Shkliarevsky, Gennady

doi:10.1002/sres.2271

Cited by 7 publications

(10 citation statements)

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“…Conservation is the engine of evolution. A system that does not evolve cannot conserve itself and begins to disintegrate [68].…”

Section: The Problem Of Discontinuitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Conservation, Creation, and Evolution: Revising the Darwinian Project

Shkliarevsky¹

2019

JES

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There is hardly anything more central to our universe than conservation. Many scientific fields and disciplines view the law of conservation as one of the most fundamental universal laws. The Darwinian model pivots the process of evolution on variability, reproduction, and natural selection. Conservation plays a marginal role in this model and is not really universal, as the model allows exceptions to conservation, i.e. non-conservation, to play an equally important role in evolution. This anomalous role of conservation in the Darwinian model raises questions: What is the reason for this anomaly? Is conservation really universal, as we tend to believe or is it not, as the Darwinian model suggests? This contribution proposes a new model of evolution that focuses on levels of organization, rather than of species, organisms, or populations. It argues that conservation is central to evolution. Not only does this new model restores the universal status of conservation but it also makes possible to resolve some outstanding problems and controversies that continue to plague the Darwinian model. The article tries to advance the broad Darwinian project that seeks to explain the process of evolution as a product of the spontaneous processes in nature.

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“…Conservation is the engine of evolution. A system that does not evolve cannot conserve itself and begins to disintegrate [68].…”

Section: The Problem Of Discontinuitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Conservation, Creation, and Evolution: Revising the Darwinian Project

Shkliarevsky¹

2019

JES

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“…Recently, there has been a renewed interest in the sustainability of social systems, whether economic, socio‐economic or environmental (e.g. Shkliarevsky, ). A concern for the well‐being, viability or sustainability of a system has revived the interest in autopoiesis as a conceptual means to describe, analyse and assess a social system's sustainability (e.g.…”

Section: Autopoiesis and Its Social Applicationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Autopoiesis and Structuration Theory: A Framework to Investigate the Contribution of a Development Project to a Rural Community

Turpin

2016

Syst. Res

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The social application of autopoiesis remains a topic of interest and debate. In the 40 years since the theory of autopoiesis was published, Luhmann's work dominated its social application. Other suggestions of combining autopoiesis with social theory, such as Giddens' structuration theory, have gone largely unnoticed. In the present study, structuration theory is combined with autopoiesis concepts in a framework with which to assess the well‐being and sustainability of social systems in a developing country. In particular, the framework is applied to evaluate the contribution of a development project to the community affected by it. The study demonstrates the practical applicability of a structuration‐based conceptualisation of autopoiesis. In addition, it presents a novel way of looking at developmental impact, namely in terms of a project's influence on the self‐producing ability of the community served. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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“…For example, there have been no major theoretical breakthroughs in physics since the creation of quantum mechanics in the 1930s (Shkliarevsky, , p. 52). Also, we cannot produce a credible solution for our environmental or economic problems (Shkliarevsky, ).…”

Section: Network and Hierarchies: The Phenomenology Of Conflictmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The process may progressively end up in the disintegration of all underlying levels and forms of organization. A system cannot stay static; it either has to grow or disintegrate (Shkliarevsky, ).…”

Section: Network and Hierarchies: The Phenomenology Of Conflictmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It seeks to explain the properties of the whole by the properties of its parts; that is, it seeks to explain the properties of a system by the properties of its subsystems. As has been explained elsewhere (Shkliarevsky, ; Shkliarevsky, ), such an approach is doomed to failure because it tries to explain a more powerful level of organization by a less powerful one, which is impossible. In other words, it does not take into consideration the powerful combinatorial effects of the process of construction.…”

Section: Network and Hierarchies: The Phenomenology Of Conflictmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Rethinking Democracy: A Systems Perspective on the Global Unrest

Shkliarevsky

2015

Syst. Res

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The paper seeks to make a contribution towards a better understanding of the current global political unrest. It argues that this unrest reflects ongoing tensions between hierarchical and non-hierarchical interactions. It also argues that the opposition between hierarchical and non-hierarchical interactions is not ontological but rather is rooted in the way we approach reality and is, therefore, subject to our control. The tendency to exclude the process of construction from our frame of vision is characteristic for the view of reality that is dominant in our civilization. Contemporary theoretical perspectives that include, but are not limited to, systems theory, complexity theory, theory of self-organization, emergence theory and autopoiesis have much to offer in addressing and resolving this problem. The paper outlines some general organizing principles that should be part of this solution. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.Keywords systems theory; hierarchies; networks; horizontalists Over two decades ago, communism collapsed and the Cold War ended. Francis Fukuyama hailed this development in his book The End of History and the Last Man as the beginning of a new era in which liberal democracy and capitalism would reign supreme. All that would be left for humanity to do was to enjoy the fruits of this remarkable victory that would bring peace, freedom and prosperity to the entire world.Long gone are the days of triumphalism. Today, the prophecy that Fukuyama made in the wake of the demise of the Soviet bloc 'that liberal democracy, combined with market economics, represented the direction in which the world would inevitably evolve ' (Fukuyama, 1989) rings hollow; today, we hear a very different tune. It warns us about the retreat of democracy, the rise of authoritarian regimes, economic uncertainty and prospects of growing violence and hostility in the world (Kurlantzick, 2013).At the time of its publication, many welcomed Fukuyama's book as a prophecy and a revelation of the world to come. Now, more than two decades later, few ever mention or quote this book and even fewer hold the predictive powers of its author in high regard. The world has turned out to be very different from what Fukuyama divined. It is turbulent, dangerous and extremely uncertain. Many * Correspondence to: Gennady Shkliarevsky, History, Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, Red Hook, NY, 12504, USA. E-mail: shkliare@bard.edu 1 I want to use this opportunity to thank the two anonymous reviewers for their very careful and nuanced reading of the earlier drafts of this paper. Their comments and suggestions are very valuable and accepted with gratitude.

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Squaring the Circle: In Quest for Sustainability

Cited by 7 publications

References 57 publications

Conservation, Creation, and Evolution: Revising the Darwinian Project

Conservation, Creation, and Evolution: Revising the Darwinian Project

Autopoiesis and Structuration Theory: A Framework to Investigate the Contribution of a Development Project to a Rural Community

Rethinking Democracy: A Systems Perspective on the Global Unrest

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