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

CONTINUOUS – DISCONTINUOUS 2)3)

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To discriminate basic continuity or discontinuity in nature is one of the most difficult – and even irritative – riddle in science and philosophy. According to R. THOM, this is a metaphysical problem. Curiously enough, this mathematician who created catastrophe theory, a topological theory of discontinuities, states that "the essence of catastrophe theory is precisely to reduce appearent discontinuities to a manifestation of a slow subjacent evolution"! (1991, p.62). For him, "the discrete character of a transformation is a simplification brought about by our perceptive system" (p.63). He adds: "We are made essentially to see discontinuities. Only these are significant. For an animal, it is essential to recognize preys and to localize them" (Ibid). As a result, our nervous system is organized toward the perception of the appearent objects outlines.

This is also true in language: "… we discretize phonemes" (p.64)… in order to become able to distinguish them. All in all, THOM's arguments do not seem conclusive. We have no definitive way to decide the matter.

It is even possible that this dichotomy is a perceptive artifact, in relation to mega-, macro- and micro-levels of perceptions.

Systemists should remain careful when postulating continuity or discontinuity in models and constructs.

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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