Amy Heath-Carpentier

The Challenge Of Complexity: Essays By Edgar Morin Amy Heath-Carpentier

Thirty-two essays by Edgar Morin, illuminating the influential philosopher's contributions to addressing the interconnected uncertainties of our world.

This volume collects thirty-two essays by Edgar Morin, an esteemed French philosopher, sociologist, and public intellectual. The essays span six decades of his career, addressing topics such as complexity, sociology, ecology, education, film, biology, and politics. Morin argues for an epistemological revolution and focuses on the need to develop complex thought--thought which does not mutilate its subject matter by way of reduction--to address the lived complexity of an interconnected, interdependent, uncertain world. Morin's contribution to such a wide range of disciplines has been influential because of his ability to bring complex thought to bear on seemingly diverse topics, reflecting on the limitations of how they are approached and articulating a transdisciplinary way forward that avoids sacrificing complexity for an oversimplified clarity. Morin illuminates the complexity and creativity of the world and of our lived experience, inviting us to participate in the creative process that is existence itself. An introduction by Alfonso Montuori offers an overview of Morin's remarkable work and life, and a substantive letter from Morin completes the volume.