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

INFOLDING 2)

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The emergence of a new level of complexity within a system undergoing a process of dissipative structuration.

This term has been proposed by C. JOSLYN, who writes: "We usually think about emergent phenomena as entering at the "pinnacle" of some evolutionary hierarchy. In contrast, we regard this kind of emergence not as adding a layer on top of a hierarchy, but rather as a "deepening' of "infolding" of an existent hierarchy. The new level is added between what was previously (and still is) the bottom and the top levels" (1991, p.639).

For example, the emergence of a highly developed neo-cortex in the human brain is a result of internal differentiation of an existing structure. This example however seems to indicate that such an "infolding" may lead in some cases to the emergence of a new and higher level of complexity in a different sense: numerous individuals endowed with these evolved brains are able to create social organization on a new innovative level.

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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