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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ALLOMETRY 2)

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Fixed or variable proportional relationship between different parts in one or various systems

It is already an old idea to try to compare the modifications of the proportions of various parts of the same system through time or the proportions of a corresponding part of various systems at the same moment of their growth.

The 19th century French paleontologist Georges CUVIER used the concept as a "principle of correlation between parts": "Any organized being forms a whole, a unified and closed system, whose parts correspond all to each other and converge towards the same definitive action… None of these parts may change without changes in the others too, and as a result, each separately considered shows and gives all the others" (CUVIER, 1812, as quoted by Stephen J. GOULD – 1983)

This idea has been reworked and considerably extended, specially in relation to evolution by d'Arcy W. THOMPSON (1916 – re-ed.1952) and later on by J. HUXLEY, alone (1945) and in collaboration with E.C.R. REEVE (1972, and in HUXLEY, 1945, p.267)

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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