Highway spotters and traffic controllers: further reflections on complexity.

摘要

Norman's essay on 'Chaos, complexity and complicatedness' in this issue of Medical Education offers an eloquent description of the reductionist position in medical education. The author's argument is articulate and provides an impressive set of elaborations and clarifications regarding several scientific concepts that I and others have invoked in recent discussions on the epistemologies of medical education research. The examples of research cited in the essay are indeed convincing evidence of the areas in which the reductionist model is particularly strong for evolving theory and transferable laws.