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

HETEROSTASIS I 5)

"The artificially induced stimulation of the body mechanisms" (H. SELYE, 1975, p.467).

This is the original concept of SELYE, quite different from KLOPF's one (see hereafter).

SELYE explains: "Natural homeostatic mechanisms are usually sufficient to maintain the normal state of resistance. When faced with unusually heavy demands, however, ordinary homeostasis is not enough. The "thermostat of defense" must be raised to a higher level. For this process, I proposed the term heterostasis (from the Greek heteros = other) as the establishment of a new steady state by treatment with agents which stimulate the physiologic adaptive mechanisms through the development of normally dormant defensive tissue reactions. Both in homeostasis and in heterostasis, the milieu interieur participates actively" (p.86).

This biological model implying cooperative help by some outside element or system, could probably be translated to psychology and the social sciences (in groups, organizations, entreprises, and cultures) with quite more than an analogical meaning. Unfortunately, the subject seems to have been generally ignored.

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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