to avoid some words because of their meanings in other contexts. Many of us
understand on xmca (especially given the uncountable times Jay has written
about it, or the number of times it appears in seminal writings) that words
conjure meanings in the contexts in which they are used. Sentences,
paragraphs, papers, journals and venues of inquiry all contribute to shaping
what meanings are made of a word. So by example, physicists have no trouble
using "force" and "momentum" which are far more specific in their use than
that of the sports announcer at the football field. Chemists, Biologists, and
Physicists, when push comes to shove, have fundamentally different uses for
"energy". (This point i make from the experience of having been a postdoc
trying to coordinate physicists, chemists, and biologists to create an
undergraduate inter-disciplinary course).
The bottom line is that, IMHO, the specific selection of a word is less
important than how strongly structured is its use in context. Systems,
Ecology, Structure, Process, and so on, are all words with meanings in other
disciplines -- the challenge is whether we can collaboratively work to
negotiate the meanings that will be useful to us.
bb
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