Epistemology, Uncertainty and Social Change

While uncertainty has always been a part of human experience, scientific results in our current age imply that a unifying theory is out of reach, probably forever. If we are to survive the dangers of resurgent irrationality and accept that we have reached the end of ideology, than we will need to recognize a 'new rationality', a pragmatic and critical approach based on relative cenainties. The plausibility of this approach is strengthened by recognizing its roots in the evolution of human thinking patterns. Application of this 'new rationality' and its concomitant systems literacy is illustrated by examples drawn from global computer information networks. Beyond the overall message treated as a modernized heritage of a long philosophical continuity the paper delivers three uncommon ideas. First, this work relates different views of uncertainty to the endeavors of various unification theories for explanation the world's existence, correspondences and changes; second. treats disciplinary ways of thinking i.e. logic and probability as metapatterns and third. suggests basic shifts in roles of philosophical disciplines as epistemology and ontology. The stimuli for the above conclusions originated in computer science and artificial intelligence research.