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

CONNECTIONS RIGIDITY 1)2)

Many complex systems are characterized by "rigidly fixed connections between all their links, the presence or function of each of which is a sine qua non of the functioning of the whole system" (I.V. BLAUBERG, V. SADOVSKY & E.G. YUDIN, 1977, p.216).

The authors give the following example: "The central nervous system, the blood circulation system, the digestive system, the excretory system, etc., are rigidly connected and complement each other in our organism. Each of them is necessary and cannot be replaced by another. Structures of this type can greatly increase the level of organization of systems as compared to the organization of the individual links constituting them. But at the same time these systems are much less flexible and capable of restructuration than "corpuscular" systems" (Ibid).

The "corpuscular" system concept has been proposed by A. MALINOWSKY (see BLAUBERG et al, Bibliography) and is somewhat akin to the composite system introduced in this encyclopedia.

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: