This essay suggests that recent developments in Complexity Theory have the potential to offer new insights to reader-response researchers. Presented as a rubric that collects theoretical understandings from a number of domains such as ecology, biology, neurology, immunology, psychology, education, sociology, economics, anthropology, & evolutionary theory, Complexity Theory is developed as an antidote to Enlightenment beliefs about Reason and the separation of knowledge from knowers. In addition to providing a brief discussion of what Complexity Theory suggests about mind, selfhood, intelligence, and practices of reading, the essay offers a brief discussion of the import of these reconceptualizations to reader-response researchers. It is concluded that developing more complex reader-response research practices will require both universities and university researchers to develop new commitments and practices.
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