FIELD of a system 2)
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"The phase-space containing all the lines of behavior found by releasing the system from all possible initial states in a particular set of surrounding conditions" (W.R. ASHBY, 1960, p.28).
ASHBY states: "The concept of … field"… Defines the characteristic behavior of the system, replacing the vague concept of what a system "does" or how it "behaves" (often describable only in words) by the precise construct of a "field" (Ibid).
It is however debatable whether it is always possible to obtain a full knowledge of "all possible states", let alone of the full phase-space.
Nevertheless, ASHBY offered very interesting insights into the concept of field in his "Introduction to Cybernetics" (chap.9 "Incessant transmission", where he describes the set of all the possible transitions of a system by matrixes) (1956).
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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