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

CONTROLLERS (Hierarchies of) 1)2)

← Back

G. PASK describes such a hierarchy as follows: "The lowest level controller imitates its environment, learning that a is more likely than b. The second level learns sequences, a then b, or b then a. The next level learns about and imitates sequences as a whole, not a or b as such, and further levels learn about categories of sequences. In other words, "sequences" and "categories of sequences'" become represented by symbols at different levels of discourse and the artifact performs a non-trivial abstraction" (1962, p.66).

From the viewpoint of the nature of abstraction, this should be compared with KORZYBSKI's structural differential. (1950).

From the viewpoint of biological or human organization, it helps understand how a differential power to generalize leads unavoidably to the shaping of hierarchies.

According to St. KATZ: "The hierarchical arrangement as a whole is designed to carry out the highest order goals of the organism; lower order goals are simply means to this highest end" (1976, p.45).

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