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

LOGIC: A Critical View 3)

← Back

G. BATESON states that ": Logic is a poor model of cause and effect"(1979, p. 58)

He observes that we are mistaken when "we use the same words to talk about logical sequences and about sequences of cause and effect"(Ibid)

In fact, the difference is that the cause-effect sequence exists in the time dimension, while the logical one is a timeless abstraction. Or, in other words, the cause-effect sequence is considering events, and thus energetic transformation, while the logical sequence is merely a quite limited- and in a sense, static- model of linear causality. In particular, it ignores closed loops brought about by feedbacks.

This is noteworthy, since we had to wait until the 20 C. to discover that the fabled implicit contradiction in the famous sentence: "Epimedes the Cretan says that all Cretans are liars", contains in fact a feedback which is the cause of the irreductible ambiguity.

→ Types (theory of logical)

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]

We thank the following partners for making the open access of this volume possible:

© 2020 BCSSS Contact/Imprint