problem of uncertainty, this time on an existential and political terrain. High-flown theories abound, with the old chatterbox Edgar Morin and "complexity" theory, and Joel de Rosnay, that eccentric simpleton, and "society in real-time." Ec…In France, an ensemble of pseudo-savants - the eccentric de Rosnay and the blathering Morin, but also the mystic Henri Atlan, Henri Laborit, René Passet and the careerist Attali - all came together to elaborate, in MIT's wake, Ten Commandme…
Edgar Morin
philosopher · 2 mentions across 1 reading
In this course
Edgar Morin is a French theorist of complexity whose work on interconnected systems and uncertainty became foundational to post-war cybernetic and systems thinking, though the course readings cite him primarily to critique how complexity theory was co-opted into technocratic and utopian frameworks. The excerpts suggest the author views Morin's ideas as part of a broader French intellectual movement that attempted to synthesize cybernetics, ecology, and political economy in ways the reading dismisses as pseudo-scientific or theoretically superficial. His relevance here lies not in endorsement but in understanding how complexity discourse circulated through avant-garde and institutional contexts as both a genuine analytical tool and a vague rhetorical gesture.
Mentioned in 1 reading
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