The Evolutionary Dynamics of Discursive Knowledge: Communication-Theoretical Perspectives on an Empirical Philosophy of Science [Hardcover]

This open access book addresses three themes which have been central to Leydesdorff's research: (1) the dynamics of science, technology, and innovation; (2) the scientometric operationalization of these concept; and (3) the elaboration in terms of a Triple Helix of university-industry-government relations. In this study, I discuss the relations among these themes. Using Luhmann's social-systems theory for modelling meaning processing and Shannon's theory for information processing, I show that synergy can add new options to an innovation system as redundancy. The capacity to develop new options is more important for innovation than past performance. Entertaining a model of possible future states makes a knowledge-based system increasingly anticipatory. The trade-off between the incursion of future states on the historical developments can be measured using the Triple-Helix synergy indicator. This is shown, for example, for the Italian national and regional systems of innovation.Knowledge-Based Innovations and Social Coordination.- The Communication Perspective as an Empirical Philosophy of Science.- Scientific Communication and Cognitive Codification.- The Semantics of Shannon-type Information.- Relations, Positions, and Perspectives on Innovation.- Synergy in a Triple Helix of University-Industry-Government Relations.- Regions, Innovations, and the North-South Divide in Italy.- Horizons of Meaning in Anticipatory Systems.- The Generation of Redundancy against the Arrow of Time.- Codification and Anticipation in Techno-Cultural Evolutions.- Inter-Human Communications and the Possibility of Science.- Subject Index.- Author Index.- Bibliography.

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