International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics

D. BOHM and F.D. PEAT write: "The concept of order is, by itself, of very general interest. But one of its most fundamental and deepest meaning is that it lies at the root of structure, which is a key issue, not only in science, but in life as a whole. Structure is often treated as being static and more or less complete in itself. But a much deeper question is that of how this structure originates and grows, how it is sustained, and how it finally dissolves. Structure is basically dynamic, and should perhaps better be called structuring, while relatively stable products of this process are structures. But even these latter structures should not be considered as basically static, for they are the results of processes which sustain them and keep them, for a time, more or less within certain limits.

"As with order, so with structure there can be no complete definition. Rather,… whatever we say structure is, it isn't. There is always something more than what we say and something different. At any given stage, it is possible to abstract a certain structure as relevant and appropriate. But later, as the context is made broader, the limits of validity of this abstraction are seen and new notions developped" (1987, p.141-2).