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

GENERAL SYSTEMS THEORY: a Set of precepts 1)3)

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J.W SUTHERLAND enounced as an "epistemological platform ", the following integrated set of precepts for G.S.T.:

- A belief in the scientific utility of (and the limited existence of) phenomenal isomorphisms.

- A belief in the perequisital nature of proper theory, coupled with the conviction that empirical validation should be the arbiter of scientific truth.

- A postulation of the critical role to be played by analogic models in complex phenomenal domains.

- A preference for 'organic' referents within the social and behavioral sciences (as opposed to the mechanical referents of classical physics, etc.).

- A preference for a holistic analytical modality (predicated on hypothetico-deductive perations) as opposed to the reductionist-inductivist modality.

- A demand that instances of macrodeterminacy among complex 'organic' phenomena be fully exploited.

- The postulation that ideal-type and taxonomic constructs are the most efficient vehicles for phenomenal analysis in the social and behavioral sciences"(1973, p.19).

Of course the modes of "empirical validation" depend at least in part on the way of setting the "question marks". As to the preference for "organic referents in social and behavioral sciences", it should not be exclusive: dissipative structuration and networks, for example may provide useful models. As to "macrodeterminacy", it became clear, more recently, that complex systems combine it with local or microderteminacy in such a curious way as to generate a global semideterminacy (chaos). And "ideal-types" and "taxonomic constructs" should be used as carefully, as any abstract construct.

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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