Holotopia: Narrow frame

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Narrow frame

Science became "the Grand Revelator of Modern Western Culture" through a series of historical accidents. A consequence is that our most trusted way of exploring the world is a "narrow frame"—well suited for some purposes (such as developing science and technology), but poorly for others (notably for understanding "human development", and for developing culture).

An even larger problem, however, is that science constitutes a 'hammer'—a specialized set of tools, which make us favor disciplinary interests, and ignore the needs of people and osociety.

Stories

Narrow frame in physics

We adopted this keyword, narrow frame, from Werner Heisenberg, who in "Physics and Philosophy" (subtitled "Revolution in Modern Science") explained the narrow frame and its consequences (see our summary here).

Click here to hear Heisenberg say that

Most people believe that the atomic technique is the most important consequence. It was different for me. I believed that the philosophical consequences from atomic physics will make a bigger change than the technical consequences in the long run. And on the general consequences on atomic physics one can think about were well above here. So we know because of atomic physics and what was learned from it that general problems look different than before. For example, the relationship between science and religion, and more generally, the way we see the world.

Here you'll find a couple of epistemological notes by Einstein, which will also be relevant.

Narrow frame in philosophy

Narrow frame in the humanities

Ideogram

Polyscopy ideogram

The Polyscopy ideogram, with which we summarize the narrow frame insight, points to the key idea: Once we understood that the methods developed in the sciences are just human-made ways of looking at things or scopes—it became natural to adapt them to the purposes that need to be served; notably to the purpose of seeing things whole.

Keywords

Polyscopy and methodology

We use the word methodology for both a study of method and for the method that results from such a study. This usage is similar to how we handle epistemology. </p>

polyscopy is both a pseudonym we use, in colloquial speech and in application, for the Polyscopic Modeling methodology—which is a generalized "scientific method", whose purpose is to provide information according to contemporary needs of people and society.

Scope and scope design

The scope is the way of looking. In polyscopy, a multiplicity of ways of looking are deliberately designed—to illuminate a theme in the right way. A core element of a justification of a certain piece of information is to show that its scope is relevant. Scope design is the very approach that defines polyscopy (or Polyscopic Modeling).</p>

Perspective and gestalt

The perpective is a criterion, one of the four criteria in Polyscopic Modeling definition. This criterion requires that we design scopes in such a way that a correct perspective is offered (a view from all sides, which shows the whole in correct proportions).</p>

A gestalt is the meaning of it all. The core goal of polyscopy is to use scope design to correct the perspective, so that a gestalt that is appropriate to the situation at hand can be found, expressed and acted on.

Pattern and ideogram<h2></div>

In the generalized science, as modeled by polyscopy, the pattern and the ideogram roughly correspond to the mathematical function and the corresponding symbolic representation. "E = mc2" is a familiar example. By why use only mathematics? The patterns and the ideograms generalize the approach to science completely; they can be, in principle, anything that works...

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<h2>Prototypes</h2>