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

METAPHOR THEORY (Conceptual) 1)3)

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M. DANESI has given steps toward the elaboration of a general theory of metaphors, which amounts to a kind of theory of abstractions constructions (M. DANESI, 2001, p. 5-24)

The general idea is about our way to construct embracing frames of reference through succesive (meta-) levels of abstraction.

This attempt is somewhat akin to KORZYBSKYI's structural differential, but also offers new insights.

DANESI starts with a layering theory of metaphors, (which is itself a metaphor!), related to PEIRCE's concepts of firstness, secondness and thirdness.

To begin with, DANESI distinguishes various types of metaphors as:

- animal ones, as for ex. "the professor is a snake"; "he is a real hog"; "she is a true pussycat"

- visual ones as for ex. "there is more in it that meets the eye"; "from the viewpoint", "see eye to eye"; develop a "worldview"

At a second level of abstraction more abstract metaphors appear:

- "he is a voracious reader

- "Darwin is the father of modern biology

- "That idea is not in vogue any longer

- "That theory needs support

- "His views have contemporary offshoots

or, in a culture strongly influenced by markets:

- "That idea just won't sell "

- "That's a worthless idea

Finally, DANESI writes about "meta forms", "metaforms", "metasymbols"(p.21) and shows how the use of metaphors provides a synthetic framework for the understanding of the way human abstract systems are constructed.

He notes that this "basic human tendency to think of abstract concepts iconically and through association was already pointed out by Giambattista VICO (1682-1744) the Italian philosopher" (p.8)

→ Concept; Constructivism; Level; Pragmatism: a systemic view

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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