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

CATALYSIS (Self) 2)

← Back

Reproductive process of complex elements, by the ordering action of some of their parts on simpler elements already present in their environment.

According to J.de ROSNAY: "A peculiar form of fluctuations which plays a fundamental role in the genesis of an organized structure is the self-catalytic reaction. There is self-catalysis when products of a reaction act as a catalyzer in this same reaction. A self-catalytic reaction may lead to the emergence of a structure ordered out of an homogeneous medium. It is the case of a chain reaction which produces (by random molecular collisions) a more complex molecule capable to catalyze some stages of its own formation. The chain closes on itself and produces a positive feedback starting from simpler molecules already present in the medium and available as building blocks. The complex molecule builds itself and the process accelerates with the help of the just created products" (1975, p.227).

This process is active in the DNA and RNA chain of reproduction… and thus in the reproduction of superior organisms.

It plays also a role in the autopoietic process. Self-catalysis is an important mechanism for the emergence, multiplication and stabilization of complex systems.

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]

We thank the following partners for making the open access of this volume possible:

© 2020 BCSSS Contact/Imprint