Varieties of Limits to Scientific Knowledge

Piet Hut, David Ruelle and Joseph Traub

Working Papers from Santa Fe Institute

Abstract: Any area of knowledge is structured by an intricate interplay of limits, and joining. An apparently restrictive limit may actually reveal itself as liberating. We discuss the role that limits play in the real world, in our mathematical idealizations, and inthe mappings between them. We propose a classification of limits, and suggest how and when limits to knowledge appear as challenges that can advance knowledge.

Keywords: Limits to scientific knowledge; physics; mathematics; reality; mathematical models; classification of limits (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1998-02
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:wop:safiwp:98-02-015

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