Welcome

Welcome to the Institute for the Study of Complex Systems (ISCS), a research organization that specializes in evolutionary/functional approaches to complexity and a new biological approach to social justice.

The director of the ISCS, Peter A. Corning, Ph.D., is well-known for his theory, detailed in several books and numerous papers (some of which are available here under “Publications”), about the causal role of synergy in the evolution of biological and cultural complexity.   He calls it the “Synergism Hypothesis” – to account for cooperative phenomena and the “progressive” evolution of complexity over time.  In essence, it represents an economic theory of complexity, and it involves a radical paradigm shift away from the gene-centered focus of neo-Darwinism.

He is also known for a new, biologically grounded social justice framework that he has called the “Fair Society” paradigm.  This new paradigm is developed in his 2011 book, The Fair Society.