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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EIGEN 2)

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A German word whose meaning is "Self".

The German prefix "eigen" means "own" and is now used in various composite words, all of them introduced by von FOERSTER (1976, p.93) and related to the the self-reproductive properties of autopoietic systems, endowed with organizational closure. von FOERSTER wants to emphasize the self-reference nature of systemic processes and functions.

He even states in a paper in German that "Leben ist ein Eigenprocess" (1992, p.82), and adds: "A living being is a self perpetuating, autonomous and organizationally closed being".

This basic characteristic was confirmed later on by H. MATURANA, F. VARELA and R. URIBE's biological research and simultaneously extended to psychology and sociology under the guise of constructivist concepts.(E.von GLASERSFELD, in P. WATZLAWICZ (Ed), 1992).

We thus have "Eigen-algorithms, Eigen-value, Eigen-behavior, Eigen-elements, Eigen-functions, Eigen-operators, Eigen-processes" and, in communication, "Eigen-feedbacks", which become the origin of "conversation" and consensus through progressive agreement on perceptions, meanings and concepts.

In all cases, "Eigen-situations" need to be carefully harmonized with their own origins (autogenesis) and all transformations and evolutive changes, like adaptativeness and emergence of higher levels of complexity.

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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