Complex Meaning Systems

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Complex Meaning Systems

• Wendy Corfield
• QUT, Brisbane, Australia

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What does it all mean?

• Everything
• Nothing
• Experience
• Wisdom

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What is a Meaning System?

• Explain why certain realities prevail
• Why people act in a certain way
• Why certain institutions continue/end
• Why certain values dominate others

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Complexity Reigns

• Complex systems thinking
• Adapts well to the material world
• Can it apply to the non-material even
  metaphysical world?
• The world of knowledge, ideas and meaning?

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The Nexus

• Area of Interest
• The nexus between science, sociocultural theory,
  complex systems theory and philosophy.

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The Sum of the Parts

• Reductionism
• Theories of Everything
• The Prevailing Common Sense
• Epistemological, ontological and axiological
  themes

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Social Systems

• Through the lens of complexity
• Relationships, nodes, linkages, hubs
• Greater connection with values
• Contingent meaning

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Complex Meaning Systems

• Patterns of conformity
• Collective values
• Predictable relationships within tolerances
• Dynamic and not static

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Toward a Conclusion
Complex Meaning Systems have the potential to
offer

• A structured account of meaning-making
• Underlying simplicity that attracts people to
  certain ideas
• Connections to more than one dimension

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Thank You