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

"NOTHING BUT" FALLACY 1)2)3)

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The kind of superficial analogy that blocks the mind in a restricted and excluding schema about some entity or issue.

This fallacy was strongly denounced by K.L.von BERTALANFFY. An example is: "An organism is nothing but a machine". Vague analogies should be replaced by the perception and clear understanding of specific and limited similarities.

Even the term "isomorphism", proposed by Bertalanffy himself, should be used carefully. In fact any "isomorphic" model of an entity is no more than homomorphic. It represents merely some selected and seemingly significant aspects of the entity.

Only models of two or more different entities could be isomorphic models. A good example are the isomorphisms between levels in MILLER's taxonomy of living systems.

To avoid mere analogical fallacies, Bertalanffy resorted to mathematical expressions as far as possible. M. DAVIDSON, (quoted by M. MULEJ) wrote: "By using differential calculus, he was able to provide mathematical precision to such GST concepts as dynamic equilibrium (the steady state). the import of energy from the environment (negentropy), and self-restoration in response to external disturbances (equifinality)"

Topology is now also a source of precise modelling for isomorphisms in processes. Examples are attractors or Poincare sections. Other useful precise models are networks, power laws, renormalization transformations.

Graphs and matrixes are also useful.

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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