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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COMPLEXITY (Multi-level vs multivariate) 2)

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T. BAUMGARTNER et al. oppose multi-level to multivariate complexity "& which simply adds more variables to the system at the same level" (1976, p.38).

According to these authors, a variable or process at a higher level within the system and over some period of time "& maintains or is likely to change the relationships among the variables already considered to be descriptive of the system" (Ibid).

While the distinction between higher and lower hierarchic levels is important and admittedly, in general asymmetric in favor of the higher ones, it seems quite possible that, in some cases, a variable's erratic behavior at a lower level may have general effects on the system as a whole. This seems specially true in the social systems researched by the authors ("For the want of a horseshoe, the battle was lost").

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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