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

BEING, DOING, BECOMING 1)3)

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According to J.L. LEMOIGNE, "An object's definition is made by triangulation: it includes

- a functional definition (what the object does)

- an ontological definition ( what the object is)

- a genetic definition (what the object becomes)" (1977, p.39)

LEMOIGNE adds that this "Trialectics of being, doing and becoming is probably the key of representation, if not even of knowledge" (Ibid).

This important insight reminds us that none of the three definitions corresponds to an absolute knowledge:

- What the system actually does may be quite different of what we believe it does, or of our specific viewpoint in relation to our research;

- We do not know if the "real object" corresponds perfectly to the model we did construct (see "Ontological skepticism");

- It is not secure that our forecasts in connection with the future of the object are valid, nor even that it would be possible to make any valid forecast.

The trialectic concept of LEMOIGNE's is basic for the whole of his "Systéme General" Theory (p.40).

W. PANKOW writes on the same topic: "Being is becoming. Self-transcendent systems are time generating systems. Being and time are complementary aspects of gestalt. Gestalt has no origin: it is its own origin" (1976, p.21).

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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