The Wealth of Reality: An Ecology of Composition

ISBN-13: 9780809322510 Publisher: Southern Illinois University Press Publication date: 10/19/1999 Edition description: 1st Edition Pages: 304 Product dimensions: 6.12(w) x 9.25(h) x 1.00(d) Lexile: 1370L (what's this?) Margaret A. Syverson discusses the ways in which a theory of composing situations as ecological systems might productively be applied in composition studies. She demonstrates not only how new research in cognitive science and complex systems can inform composition studies but also how composing situations can provide fruitful ground for research in cognitive science. Syverson first introduces theories of complex systems currently studied in diverse disciplines. She describes complex systems as adaptive, self-organizing, and dynamic; neither utterly chaotic nor entirely ordered, these systems exist on the boundary between order and chaos. Ecological systems are "metasystems" composed of interrelated complex systems. Writers, readers, and texts, together with their enviro