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.

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ENVIRONMENT (Perceived) 1)3)

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E.von GLASERSFELD writes: "Jacob von UEXKÜLL, in his "Streifzügen durch die Umwelten von Tieren und Menschen" clearly showed that the representation that an organism builds from its environment can only be made from "raw materials", that the organism deals with in a way to define its own "experienced" environment" (1991, p.21).

Or, "… the observed organism's environment is still part of the observer's own experiential field" (1976, p.118). Thus, the same environment seen by a rabbit, or a fox, or a child or a human adult is perceived quite differently by any of them.

The same author adds: "Our sense organs perceive distinctions, and not 'objects" (Ibid).

In any case, as stated by V. CSANYI: "The most important biological function of the animal brain and memory is the construction of a dynamic model of the environment, the continuous maintenance and operation of the model, and the use of the data obtained by operation for prediction in the interest of the survival and the reproduction of the animal" (1993, p.265).

According to D. MacKAY, this is the effective meaning of mind and consciousness (1951, p.118).

A quite serious problem is the existence of an un-perceived environment. This comes out very clearly in the following J.J. GIBSON's debatable statement: "The environment of animals and men is what they perceive" (1986, p.15). This is acceptable only from the viewpoint of psychology of perception, but should never be admitted as meaning: "What we do not perceive does not exist".

H.von FOERSTER's statement: "The environment contains no information. The environment is as it is" (1981, p. 271) makes this yet clearer. In fact, and obviously "what we do not perceive does not exist FOR US"

The structural coupling between the system and the environment creates or modifies the meaning within the system which thus becomes (better) informed, but always in function of its own reference frame (operational closure)

Finally, it is the system which somehow makes itself "informed"

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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