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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AWARENESS (Self) 1)5)

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The capacity to clearly perceive oneself as a separate entity

As noted by F. Capra, self-awareness, as far as we know, is manifest only in higher animals and fully unfolds in the human mind"(1997, p. 287)

He adds: "As humans we are not only aware of our environment, we are also aware of ourselves and our inner world. In other words, we are aware that we are aware. We not only know; we also know that we know. It is this special faculty of self-awareness that I refer to when I use the term "consciousness"(lbid)

It can also easily be observed that the degree of self-awareness varies widely among human individuals, from about non-existant to acute consciousness in the case of mystics, "illuminated" or "awakened"(in the Buddhist sense)

Capra also observes that "In the Santiago theory, self-awareness is viewed as being tied closely to language and the understanding of language (as) approached through a careful analysis of communication"…and "Communication, according to Maturana, is not a transmission of information, but rather a coordination of behavior among living organisms through mutual structural coupling. Such mutual coordination of behavior is the key characteristic of communication for all living organisms, with or without nervous system, and it becomes more and more subtle and elaborate with nervous system of increased complexity"(lbid)

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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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