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

MODEL MAKING 1)2)3)

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Model making is possibly the most universal and basic mental activity of all people. Even superior animals probably elaborate some types of models of their environment.

We absolutely need models for our general orientation in life and as a bedrock for behavior.

They seem in fact indispensable for our very survival.

However a serious reflection about our ways to elaborate models, and even what we mean exactly by " model" is a very recent development. Still now most people make models in a quite naive way.

This is so because scientifically based models need considerable abstract knowledge, a fact that would block that basic activity for most people and put them at a loss, or even in danger.

However naive model making frequently leads to dramatically negative results for communities as well as for individuals.

A better understanding of our model making ability (or incompetence) is one of the most important result of various developments in cybernetics and systemics, among them:

- Autopoiesis (MATURANA y VARELA)

- 2 Order cybernetics (von FOERSTER)

- Constructivism (von GLASERSFELD)

- Generic Design (WARFIELD)

- Co-participative Design (BANATHY)

- Genetic psychology (PIAGET)

- Gestalt psychology (WERTHEIMER, KOHLER and KOFFKA)

- Metamodeling (van GIGCH)

- Operational research (BLACKED, ACKOFF)

- Systems dynamics (FORRESTER)

and of course a wide variety of more limited and specific techniques that have also been proposed (See the corresponding entries)

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:

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