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

COVERING-LAW MODEL 3)

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J. BRYANT writes: The most widely-held theory of scientific explanation among philosophy of science is the so-called "C-L model". which holds that a scientific explanation has the form of a set of conditions statements C and a set of universal laws L, which together logically implies a so-called "explanation statement" P, where P describes the fact to be explained, and where the fact that P is deduced from C and L constitutes the explanation"(p. 29, 1991)

Such a formulation implies a belief in determinism. However contemporary widened and variagated concepts of determinism seem to weaken the general concept of the covering-law model.

This problem is also related to the ways we construct our reference frames and thus suppose defined views about the way we perceive and how our brain constructs explanations and models.

BRYANT himself discusses these problems in various sections of his book (1991)

He even says that "all philosophies are utilitarian, either overtly or covertly" (p. 176) while in different ways and according to different aims.

As a result, the "C.L. model" seems quite strong in physical sciences. This situation could possibly be more or less amended in other sciences by adding systemic models and rules, as for example, "A system is more (and less) that the sum of its parts"

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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