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

EVENT-BASED EPISTEMOLOGY 3)

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H.von FOERSTER observes: "Objects and events are not primitive experiences. "Objects" and "Events" are representations of relations" (1992, p.265).

This has also been shown by A. KORZYBSKI with his "structural differential" (1933, 1950, p.386-411): we all must start from "something out there", but we only can make sense of it in our own perceptive and conceptual terms. Thus any "event" is already no more than a more or less accurate and efficient fabrication.

This appears clearly when, in a different sense, M. Mc WHINNEY and D. BUSHNELL emphasize that: "Classificatory epistemologies are derived from observation of systems in equilibrium, thus they organize knowledge in accord with normal distributions of matter and energy, ones that present the "typical" distribution of explained phenomena. Such is the foundation of contemporary sciences, social as well as natural" (1987, p.291).

In other words, we mostly live on an epistemology of stability, or at most dynamic stability. But this blocks effectively our understanding of any kind of system that does not conform with this model.

Thus the cited authors propose: "Systems practice in an era of turbulent change calls for an "event-based" approach to understanding. Such an approach to establishing meaning recognizes that emergent systems have unique properties, not predictable from the behavior of component subsystems. Thus extent classification rules inappropiately filter out new or highly unusual phenomena. An event-based epistemology provides a better basis for understanding behavior in dissipative (self-organizing) systems which operate far from the presumed equilibrium conditions. This is true of all dissipative systems, but we see the effects especially in those that are directed by sentient and purposive beings" (p.291).

The lack of such an epistemology hinders gravely our understanding of the present massive transformation of mankind, which is probably on its way to global integration at planetary level.

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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