The Ethics of Complexity and the Complexity of Ethics
In this chapter, a general and critical approach to complexity is introduced. Within this approach, complex systems are viewed as irreducible. In other words, it is deemed impossible to uncover the laws of complex systems; and, since complex systems canno
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The Ethics of Complexity and the Complexity of Ethics
Abstract In this chapter, a general and critical approach to complexity is introduced. Within this approach, complex systems are viewed as irreducible. In other words, it is deemed impossible to uncover the laws of complex systems; and, since complex systems cannot be fully modelled, any engagement with complexity necessitates a critical engagement with the limits and status of our knowledge claims. This critical engagement is denoted by the ‘ethics of complexity’. Furthermore, the ethics of complexity commits us to a complex view of ethics. This is because complexity is inherent to any ethical engagement, yet ethical frameworks are also models; and, like all models, are limited, exclusionary, and incapable of accounting for the complexity of lived phenomena. However, models are also necessary, since we need to reduce the complexity, in order to make sense of our world. It is therefore argued that the best ethical models are those that draw attention to their own limited status, and, in this vein, the provisional imperative – which is a self-undermining imperative – is introduced as a guide for responsible ethical action.
Introduction The French philosopher and sociologist, Edgar Morin (2008:16) argues that the term ‘complexity’ acts as ‘a warning to our understanding, a cautioning against clarification, simplification, and overly rapid reduction’. This warning – especially as applied to the discipline of business ethics – served both as the impetus for this study, and will again be reflected in the insights offered in the conclusion to the study. However, since ‘complexity’ is often used as a conceptual catch-all to describe things that lack simple explanations, a more nuanced understanding of the concept is necessary, in order to develop a position that is both meaningful and useful. More specifically, through a careful elucidation of the ideas that inform complexity thinking, I hope to show how the warning contained in this type of
M. Woermann, On the (Im)Possibility of Business Ethics, Issues in Business Ethics 37, DOI 10.1007/978-94-007-5131-6_2, # Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2013
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2 The Ethics of Complexity and the Complexity of Ethics
thinking serves as a challenge to the underlying assumptions that underscore existing conceptual paradigms, and thereby also challenges the whole system of thought that defines our views on practice, politics, and ethics. Of specific interest, are the implications that complexity thinking holds for our understanding of ethics. Some of the implications introduced in the previous chapter can be framed in the language of complexity, and this re-inscription serves as a useful starting point for carrying the analysis forward. In particular, the collapse of the fact-value distinction holds illuminating insights for how we are to think about both the ethics of complexity and the complexity of ethics. As will be argued in more detail further on in this chapter, from the perspective of a general understandi
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