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

THERMODYNAMICS (Equilibrium) 2)

The final state of an isolated system, in which no internal gradient does anymore exist and any coherent flow of energy has disappeared.

I. PRIGOGINE writes: "At thermodynamic equilibrium, complete disorder is reached and the probability is maximum" (1984, p. 436).

A curious consequence is that an isolated system would be completely devoid of any structure or function and, therefore not be anymore a system.

P. COVENEY states: "… equilibrium thermodynamics cannot… describe change, which is the very means by which we are aware of time…

"It is only by virtue of irreversible non-equilibrium processes that a system reaches a state of equilibrium. Life itself is a non-equilibrium process: ageing is irreversible. Equilibrium is reached only at death, when a decayed corpse crumbles into dust" (1990, p.50).

However, "near equilibrium" should be carefully distinguished from final static equilibrium. A system in near equilibrium is still a dynamic one: it is able to maintain its dynamic stability or homeostasis, by using some steady energy source from its environment.

Appearent paradoxes are due to the purely abstract and unrealistic character of the "isolated system" concept, and motivated PRIGOGINE's efforts to develop a more satisfactory thermodynamics of open systems, either close to equilibrium or far away from it.

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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