Method for applying RCR

This chapter aims to demonstrate how RCR can be used to gain a deeper understanding of a (controversial) complex issue, the ‘explanandum’ which is subject to rivalling descriptions, explanations, models, theories, and/or interpretations.

At first blush, applying RCR, the RCR search heuristic, may be somewhat hard to understand. I first present it formally, as a series of eight abstract steps. Readers who prefer to see immediately each step applied to a concrete case may want to turn to page 104 after reading the next paragraph.

Before going into the actual procedure, a word needs to be said about the explanandum. Basically, there are two cases: (i) it is a given (e.g., the nature of light, taking remedial action after a nuclear accident) or (ii;) it needs to be determined (e.g., when entering a ‘new’ field such as science and religion/theology – to be dealt with momentarily). In the latter case, the explanandum has to be ‘cut out’ such that it contains the ‘control centre(s)’ (Reich 1995b). For instance, if one wants to improve the understanding of blood circulation in vertebrae, it is not sufficient to consider the heart and the vascular system; one needs to include equally the relevant parts of the nervous system. Delimiting a coherent functional whole as explanandum implies that one can envisage with some confidence developing its overarching theory in the (distant) future, even if it is (by far) not clear at present what it will look like (e.g., mind and brain).