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

UTILITARIANISM in a systemic perspective 1)3)4)

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Utilitarianism is generally seen as an individualistic world view. However, if the individualistic view is irrestrictively adopted, it may easily lead to willful ignorance or negation of social utility. Such a view, in turn, easily leads to individual actions which directly or indirectly undermine the very conditions that permits individual utility itself. On the contrary, the ignorance of the competitive role of the individuals leads to the impossibility to discover new behaviors, possibly valuable for the whole group or Society.

Thus the systemic view should aim at a better harmony between the individuals (i.e. belonging to the parts) view and the systemic view (i.e. social, i.e. on the whole)

J. BRYANT debates these aspects (1991, p. 176-180, and 184). He enounces for ex. The following theorem: "A necessary and sufficient condition for the maximization of expected group utility is the free flow of information among members of that group"(1991, p. 177)

Curiously altruistic utilitarianism can be used in two different ways:

- closely practiced, as for ex. in mafias

- widely practiced, as through utopian ideologies

This shows the fuzzy character of this concept, and the need to avoid simplistic views.

→ Behaviorism

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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