BCSSS

International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics

2nd Edition, as published by Charles François 2004 Presented by the Bertalanffy Center for the Study of Systems Science Vienna for public access.

About

The International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics was first edited and published by the system scientist Charles François in 1997. The online version that is provided here was based on the 2nd edition in 2004. It was uploaded and gifted to the center by ASC president Michael Lissack in 2019; the BCSSS purchased the rights for the re-publication of this volume in 200?. In 2018, the original editor expressed his wish to pass on the stewardship over the maintenance and further development of the encyclopedia to the Bertalanffy Center. In the future, the BCSSS seeks to further develop the encyclopedia by open collaboration within the systems sciences. Until the center has found and been able to implement an adequate technical solution for this, the static website is made accessible for the benefit of public scholarship and education.

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Y Z

CONNECTION (System forming) 1)

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A type of connection specific to organized wholes.

I. BLAUBERG, V. SADOVSKY and E. YUDIN speak of "organic" wholes, which seems unduly restrictive. (1977, p.145).

Connections are essential in systems: no unconnected number of elements can ever be considered a system. Even composite systems are weakly connected, through the general conditions to which they are submitted.

On the other hand, isolated or temporary connections are not significative, from the systems point of view. Systems are multi-connected and, moreover, generally made of interconnected subsystems, themselves made of connected components.

However, connections are selectively restricted and organized within the system, whose internal constraints give it a specific identity and functionality.

In systems, connections form networks, generally at different levels. Each system has its characteristic networks. Individual connections cannot be well understood if considered independently from the networks. This is why G. WEINBERG proposes a "Strong Connection Law" (1975, p.158), in order to do away with some principles of reductionnist scientific methodology that cannot be applied to the study of systems, as for example:

- "Clear logical thinking requires that we vary only one factor at a time" (In a system, varying one factor triggers a chain reaction in the connective network)

- "All other things being equal…" (Systems are dynamic: nothing ever remains equal).

Categories

  • 1) General information
  • 2) Methodology or model
  • 3) Epistemology, ontology and semantics
  • 4) Human sciences
  • 5) Discipline oriented

Publisher

Bertalanffy Center for the Study of Systems Science(2020).

To cite this page, please use the following information:

Bertalanffy Center for the Study of Systems Science (2020). Title of the entry. In Charles François (Ed.), International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics (2). Retrieved from www.systemspedia.org/[full/url]

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