Science, Strategy and War The Strategic Theory of ... - Boekje Pienter

progressed and developed a new language to address and explain the dynamics of livingsystems, so Boyd actively developed his mental concepts accordingly. The epistemologicaldebates he read about informed him about the pervasiveness of uncertainty and about theways science progresses. Reading Conant, Polanyi, Kuhn, Popper and others brought himthe themes of analysis and synthesis, the central role of the observer and the influence ofexisting theories and paradigms on the act of observation. Cybernetics and systems-theory,including the cognitive revolution informed him about the concepts of entropy, feed-back,interdependency, adaptation, and about the role of experience and genetics and their role inshaping mental modules. His study of a wide range of scientific topics suggested amultispectral, multidisciplinary and holistic approach and offered him a new frame ofreference and a new lexicon for understanding war and strategy. Already in the end of the1970s and the early 1980s systems theory was expanded with new concepts which wouldcohere later into chaos theory and complexity theory - a development Boyd followed fromits beginning to the end of his life - which will be described in the next chapter.120