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

ACTION 1)

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H. SABELLI defines action as "the product of energy in time". He adds: "Action exhibits two asymmetries; the energy potential and the direction of time. All actions share the time dimension, but differ from each other in at least one (space) dimension" (In "Organización: Estructuras, Sistemas y Procesos', to be published in "Encyclopedia of Psychiatry", RUIZ ALARCON, 1994) (pers. comm.).

Already in the 17th and 18th Century various European mathematicians "showed that motion and change were always achieved in a way that minimizes the "action" of nature. This action is a measure of the momentum and velocity associated with a moving particle and can be generalized in the case of more complex systems" (F. DAVID PEAT, 1988, p.54).

This principle of least action has reappeared under different guises in various fields, as for example ZIPF's least effort principle.

It is related to the internal organization of fields of forces and with the consequent structuration of form.

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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