Presents a unique study of Integrative Problem-Solving (IPS). The consideration of 'Decadence' is essential in the scientific study of environmental and other problems and their rigorous solution, because the broad context within which the problems emerge can affect their solution. Stochastic reasoning underlines the conceptual and methodological framework of IPS, and its formulation has a mathematical life of its own that accounts for the multidisciplinarity of real world problems, the multisourced uncertainties characterizing their solution, and the different thinking modes of the people involved. Only by interpolating between the full range of disciplines (including stochastic mathematics, physical science, neuropsychology, philosophy, and sociology) and the associated thinking modes can scientists arrive at a satisfactory account of problem-solving, and be able to distinguish between a technically complete problem-solution, and a solution that has social impact.

From the Table of Contents: THE PURSUIT Of KNOWLEDGE.-Crossing The Gate Of Night And Day.-Matters Of Scientific Knowledge.-A Time Of Decadence.-The Shadow Epistemology.-The Unholy Alliance Of Corporatism And Postmodernism In Higher Education.-On The Road To Damascus.-On Measurement And Observation.-Feynman¿s Wine And The No-Man¿s Land.-About Models, Modelling, And Modellers.-Reinventing The University And The New Enlightenment.-Non-Egocentric Individualism In IPS.-PROBLEM SOLVING REVISITED.-The Role Of Philosophy In IPS.-Historical Perspectives: From Heraclitus to Kuhn.-Rethink Everything.-Va, Pensiero, Sull¿ Ali Dorate.-Too Many Data - Too Little Sense, Mr. Grandgrind.-Paradigm And Via Negativa.-EMERGENCE OF EPIBRAIMATICS.-The Living Experience Outlook.-The Background Of Synthesis.-Brain As An Apparatus With Which We Think We Think.-If Plato Were Alive.-Fundamental IPS Postulates.-Knowledge Bases.-Problem-Solutions Suspended In Language.-When Truth Is Bigger Than Proof.-The Structure Of Knowledge.-A Fusion Of Ideas And Functions: A Man¿s Ithaca.-SPACE-TIME AND UNCERTAINTY.-The a¿oeCanvas vs. Parenthooda¿ Dilemma.-Space-Time Domain And Its Characterization.-Dealing With Uncertainty.-Probability And Its Interpretations.-Quantitative Representations of Uncertainty.-STOCHASTIC REASONING.-Lifting Isis¿ Veil.-Reasoning In A Stochastic Setting.-The Spatiotemporal Random Field Concept.-Stochastic Characterization.-About Laws, Power Holders, and Rembrandt¿s Paintings.-Constructing Multivariate PDF Models.-Space-Time Change and Woody Allen¿s Prose.-A Generalized View Of S/TRF.-Constructive Symbiosis And Its Problem.

A must-read for problem-solvers who are global thinkers >