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.

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ORGANIZATION, ORGANISM: A semantic comment 3)

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R.W. GERARD tried to put some order among the meanings of different words related to the concept of organization (1950).

He wrote: "The word "organism" has been used in two senses; a more specific one, referring to living organisms, and a more general one, which includes as well nonliving systems, possessing certain properties. Since I shall have to use both meanings, I have found useful, to avoid confusion, to introduce the term "org" for the broader meaning of organism, and to reserve the full word for the biological subgroup" (1956, p.155).

GERARD did not use the word "organization", but proposed two other neologisms:

- "animorg", designating living systems, as opposed to non living ones;

"epi-organism", designating colonies or social systems composed of living systems.

Later on, von FOERSTER proposed the term "artorg" to denominate organized artificial systems. None of these neologisms became really accepted… and it seems unfortunate, because they characterized important distinctions.

Moreover, the word "organization" gives also way to at least two different meanings:

- to designate the set of any systems' structures and functions;

- To designate a specific type of human systems, which numerous elements assembled in more or less well defined structures, according to the functional necessities of the system. (See for example A. RAPOPORT & W.J. HORVATH, 1959; M. HAIRE, 1959; G. VICKERS, 1957).

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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