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

EQUIPOTENTIALITY 1)3)

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Condition of a system that, starting from its initial state, may reach different states of dynamic stability.

Just like with equifinality, this property can never be verified in concrete systems, which have each one and only one adaptive sequence.

J. SINGH goes however quite farther, and in a different interpretation, when he writes that this is "the property of a system in which remaining subsystems can fulfil the functions of subsystems that have been eliminated" (1972, p.157 – retranslated from Spanish!).

This would be possible only if some subsystems were redundant.

J. NEEDHAM reproduces DRIESCH's diagram of the characteristics of an harmonious equipotential system (1968, p. 52). Some embryonic element X as a part of the embryo forms simultaneously part of different potential subsystems and "its prospective value is different in each case." DRIESCH spoke of a "prospective potency", in order to signify the collection of possible fates of such a part: the actual fate (the prospective significance) is chosen from among the possible fates (the prospective potency) (p. 53)

The original embryo has thus the general character of a hologram. this is confirmed by the fact that, after dividing the embryo a typically whole gastrula appears "differing from a normal one only by its smaller size"(p. 52).

This shows that the original embryo (and possibly any system in its initial stage- see CSANYI zero-system) has a specific potential for global differentiated organization.

NEEDHAM adds the following suggestive comment: "…one of the most fundamental process in development consists in the closing of doors, i.e., in determination, in the progressive restriction of the possible fates"(p. 55) and "Prospective potency (becomes) ruthlessly curtailed to prospective significance"(p. 56)

The foregoing shows the very general meaning of equipotentiality

→ Constraint; Differentiation; Embryogenesis; Gradient; Holon; Positional value; Structure (Dissipative)

Categories

  • 1) General information
  • 2) Methodology or model
  • 3) Epistemology, ontology and semantics
  • 4) Human sciences
  • 5) Discipline oriented

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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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