Analyzing Complex Societal Problems

Analyzing societal problems in an interdisciplinary way has become a must for our society and a challenge for the human sciences, especially because of the complex character of these problems. It is clear that the problems society is confronted with are difficult to handle and that there is a growing gap between the complexity of these problems and the human capacity to deal with them. In this situation there is a need for better methods and tools, more knowledge and imagination then there seems to be available in our standard domains of knowledge, even in the realms of scientific knowledge. Analyzing societal problems in an interdisciplinary way has become an urgent need for our society and a challenge for the (human) sciences. In this book the challenge is taken seriously from the perspective of a number of disciplines. The book is the result of the First International Conference on Methodology for Analyzing Societal Problems. In the book the theoretical and methodological aspects of analyzing complex societal problems are highlighted, together with the practical impacts. These issues are discussed in fields as ecology, computer simulation, management, social medicine, methodology, and social engineering. In the articles a number of elementary questions are examined about the way complexity is showing up in societal problems and the way the natural and social science can work together to analyze and handle these problems.