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

VIABILITY 1)

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The condition of a system able to survive after birth, to grow and to reach enduring dynamic stability.

This is, generally speaking, the condition of autopoietic and autonomous systems.

W.D. GROSSMANN and K.E.F. WATT understand viability as "temporal variety" and discuss this notion as follows: "To be viable, systems must have manifold features that will allow them to withstand the impact of expected as well as unforeseen and erratic events. It would be desirable to have systems that could even benefit from the unexpected" (1992, p.5).

The authors state that viability transcends C.S. HOLLING's idea of resilience, because it "… includes the notion of coming into existence and ultimately disintegrating" (Ibid).

According to them: "… diversity may in some cases contribute to viability" (Ibid).

This is acceptable if diversity is variety in ASHBY's meaning, or systemic internal heterogeneity, when various functions or groups can contribute numerous and varied adaptations.

As diversity is commonly antagonized by uniformization (as in chain production, for instance), or autocratic and limiting control, so could be viability. However, diversity should necessarily remain within the limits of organizational closure, to allow for coherence in the system.

According to E.von GLASERSFELD viability has its meaning in the cognitive domain: "Briefly stated, concepts, theories, and cognitive structures in general, are viable and survive as long as they serve the purposes to which they are put, as long as they more or less reliably get us what we want" (1988, p.138).

Such a view is closely related to POPPER's "falsification" and KUHN's shifts of paradigms.

From a similar viewpoint, Systemics will be viable only if it will produce practical responses to complex issues that former methodologies and theories cannot give.

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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