The Capillarism

In this chapter is introduced a somewhat “exotic” concept, namely, the capillarism. This concept comes from Physics (more exactly, from Hydrodynamics) and means a property of a system, process, event, and so on to move (in the general sense of moving) in a contrary way (direction, speed, trajectory) compared to the expected, “common” one (as happens with a liquid in a very thin tube—e.g., the blood—when that liquid moves in the inverse direction of the gravitation attraction). The concept of capillarity is almost unused in economic/social modelling, although the free will (which is “responsible” for the unpredictability in these fields) is an inexhaustible spring of capillarity or capillar behaviour (decision-making and action). To this end, the relationship between complexity and capillarity, or between free will and capillarity (including the so-called cryptocausality), is developed. Also, four species of biases are identified and put into relation with the property of capillarity, in the context of the triad: predictability—quasi-predictability—unpredictability. Based on some criteria, a general typology of capillarity is delivered, and the abstract logic of the capillary behaviour is established. In an (incipient) intention to sketch a paradigm of capillarism (a new… “ism”), four species of capillarism are identified and examined. Finally, the capillarism, as a possible paradigm, is comparatively examined in “mirror” with: behaviourism, institutionalism, viabilism, and autopoieticism. For that, each of the comparative approaches/paradigms is defined from a logical perspective (based on sufficiency predicates) and some theses are formulated regarding their paradigmatic profiles.