Analysis and its discontents: Nonlinearity and the way things aren’t

Abstract

This essay examines the concept of analysis, which has been a fundamental component of Western thought, particularly since the beginning of the modern era. Analysis as applied to the natural world has always involved the search for “simples”: For entities (atoms, mass particles) which cannot be divided or otherwise changed. In the world of thought it has involved the search for axiom sets: Absolutely fundamental assumptions never to be displaced. The great achievement of Sir Isaac Newton for a time supported the idea that a final triumph of analysis had been reached. Subsequent discoveries (the divide between relativity and quantum physics, the independent status of thermodynamics) have cast doubt on the ultimate success of analysis. The rise of nonlinear dynamics involves a fundamental shift away from the “analytical” viewpoint. Nonlinear dynamics are (1) holistic, (2) gives up predictability-in-principle, (3) describes a world in constant creative activity, (4) specifies no final level of reality. This essay ends with a plea for the application of nonlinear dynamics to fundamental physics, evolutionary biology, and genetics.