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

FUNCTION CHANGE (Principle of) 1)2)

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The potential in unused degrees of freedom to create innovative functions.

This principle has been stated and explained by R. ROSEN (1979, p.63), who gives the following example: "Many fishes possess swim bladdders, a bag or tissue filled with air, as an organ of equilibration. Being a bag of tissue, the swim badder is vascularized (possesses blood vessels). When air and small blood vessels are in contact, there will necessarily be gas exchange between the blood and the air, and so a respiratory function is incipient in this structure".

According to ROSEN: "This Principle of Function Change is thus one of the cornerstones of evolution (and indeed of any kind of adaptive behavior), and it depends essentially on the fact that the same structure is capable of simultaneously manifesting a variety of functions" (Ibid).

Function change can be enhanced by increased variety, which brings about new degrees of freedom – sometimes implicit – and may lead to more complexity.

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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