Agency, complexity, memory: A scholarship for western places

Agency, complexity, and memory are core values for the scholarship, especially the historical scholarship, of western places in the 21st Century. The doctrine of agency derives from action theory in philosophy and individualism in sociology. Chaos theory and its companion, complexity, defy determinisms and lead scholars toward narrative explanations capable of dealing with organized complexity. Collective memory situates scholars in a western landscape and society where they are responsible for the stories they tell.