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

CLOSURE 3)

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The property of a system to maintain its own internal order and identity within defined and permanent boundaries.

The condition for closure is internal recursivity in the system, as demonstrated by H. MATURANA and F. VARELA.

F. HEYLIGHEN states: "Closure of a substructure within a larger structure means that the external distinction (between the substructure and its complement or environment) is enhanced, whereas the internal distinctions (between the elements or components of the substructure) are reduced. In other words, closure diminishes the coherence between the substructure and its environment while amplifying the internal coherence of the substructure". (1990b, p.488)

The word "substructure" (used by HEYLlGHEN in a paper about representations in quantum mechanics) could be usefully substituted by the word "system", since the concept of closure is very general.

Structural closure, in particular, implies the construction, reconstruction and repair of the parts of the system. As to cognitive processes, closure leads to their circularity (H.von FOERSTER – 1992, p.68)

Closure, in its organizational sense, "a logical attribute" in E. SCHWARZ words, "should not be confused with energetic closeness (or openness), a physical level attribute" (1993, p.3)

→ Organization: a descriptive language

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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