ABSTRACT
The chapter examines how the departure exposes the limits of reductionist science, and the implications for knowledge transfer and adaptive capacity in environmental management. Richardson notes that while many of the criticisms of science have been made by non-scientists, complexity science is now leading a critique of science from within its own paradigm. The role of science in the Newtonian paradigm is to improve the 'map' in the observer's minds. Knowledge management, knowledge transfer, as its name suggests, is premised on Newtonian assumptions of knowledge as a 'thing', and the computer or information processing view of cognition and learning. The ultimate aim of environmental management is to see that the earth's biophysical resources are used and managed sustainably. Environmental scientists can increase their creative capacity by expanding their domain of personal interactions. New metrics need to be developed which reflect the scope and quality of interactions scientists/research programs have with other parts of the socio-ecological system.
