ABSTRACT
Self-organization, like emergence, is a key concept in complexity theory, but its specifi cs are not all that clear or agreed upon among complexity theorists. One thing that is clear is that self-organization is a way of thinking. The term connotes, and is often used interchangeably with, spontaneity, endogeneity, and autonomy. And all these terms suggest that events and actions that take place in systems do not require external drivers, or a hierarchically superior force. They can happen for internal reasons, driven by the internal dynamics of systems. In contrast to the external causeeff ect determinism of the Newtonian/positivist science (Morçöl, 2002, pp. 13-17), a self-organizational way of thinking is that systemic processes can fold back on themselves. In other words, the “causes’ of systemic processes are within themselves.
