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

CONTEXT (Relevant) 3)

That part of the context that helps to classify the message (After G. BATESON, 1973, p.218).

BATESON explains how the context may reinforces or modify the message, for example "& place the message in the category of humour, metaphor, etc. The setting may make the message inappropriate. The message may be out of tune with the larger context, and so on. But there are limits to these modifications. The context may tell the recipient anything about the message, but it cannot ever destroy or directly contradict the latter" (Ibid).

BATESON gives an interesting example: "I was lying when I said "The cat is on the mat" tells the vis-a-vis nothing about the location of the cat. It tells him only something about the reliability of his previous information" (Ibid). This means that the message is reclassified within a different relevant context: it should not have been taken at its face-value.

Of course, while "relevant context" for human information and knowledge is a matter of paradigms, "without context, there is no communication" (p.378).

However, it seems now to be correct even in genetics and embryology, as shown by the discovery of the importance of the reciprocal positions of genes and chromosomes.

Positional value

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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