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It is complicated! – misunderstanding the complexities of ‘complex’
Author(s) -
Sturmberg Joachim P.,
Martin Carmel M.,
Katerndahl David A.
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
journal of evaluation in clinical practice
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.737
H-Index - 73
eISSN - 1365-2753
pISSN - 1356-1294
DOI - 10.1111/jep.12579
Subject(s) - terminology , term (time) , epistemology , meaning (existential) , computer science , complex system , domain (mathematical analysis) , nothing , sociology , linguistics , artificial intelligence , philosophy , mathematics , mathematical analysis , physics , quantum mechanics
Terminology matters ‐ as Lakoff emphasised, words and phrases evoke powerful images and frames of understanding. It is for that reason that we need to discern and use appropriately the term complex/complexity in the health science/professional/policy domain. Complex is the fashionable term used when in reality one means ‘complicated’, ‘difficult to understand’ or ‘multiple simultaneous actions’. However, this is not what complex means. The Latin term means ‘entwined/interwoven’ ‐ a structural characteristic describing systems. Complexity arises from the interactions between structurally connected entities ‐ a functional characteristic of a system. The basis of scientific rigor is a clear understanding of a discipline's epistemology. Complexity refers to the emergence of outcomes from the interactions of a system's constituent components (and thus has nothing in common with the colloquial meaning of complicatedness).