Dialectics
Otherwise known as "Immanent Critique", it is both a method of observation and critique as well as a way to model naturally-occurring phenomena.
At an abstract level, it is the development and criticism of an idea as it is realized either by an observer/thinker in terms of that certain idea. What are the inconsistencies in it? How would it need to change in order to be more complete? The greater the internal inconsistencies or contradictions, the greater the change must be.
In more concrete terms, this involves critique and evaluation of a set of values as it is developed and realized in the real world. Unlike in its abstract form, this introduces the element of time and its relationship to past events, either to a single or small group of individuals or society at large.
In the natural world, this involves an given energy system , which is to say, all possible changes and transformations, and the inertial forces present that keep a system at its lowest energy level. In a given energy system, some quantitative change happens and increments until a qualitative change finally happens:
- In a pot of boiling water, heat energy is added (quantitative change) until it begins to boil into steam (qualitative change)
- The steam from a pot of boiling water cools down (quantitative change) until it condenses into drops of water.
- Force is applied to a weight (quantitative change) until it exceeds the force exerted by its mass and begins to move (qualitative change).