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Complementarity Beyond Physics

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Complementarity Beyond Physics

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Abstract

This chapter introduces Bohr’s efforts to make complementarity a general framework for knowledge both by extending its applicability to disciplines beyond physics, such as functional-molecular complementarity in biology, spectator-actor complementarity in psychology and nature–nurture complementarity in anthropology, and by drawing attention to parallel ideas such as the logic of the tetralemma in Buddhist thought and the action of no action in Taoism. Even though Bohr does not explain the wider applications of his principle, Bala argues that these can be understood as responses to grown properties in natural organic systems. This makes it possible to appreciate why complementarity provides a framework for scientific knowledge in general that goes far beyond the domain of atomic physics where it first emerged.

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  1. University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada

    Arun Bala

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Bala, A. (2017). Complementarity Beyond Physics. In: Complementarity Beyond Physics. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-39784-9_1

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