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

NETWORK: Described as a graph 2)

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St. BEER writes: "… the most useful scientific language for discussing… networks… is really the theory of graphs… "

"… the graph as a logical entity, consisting of an arborescence of binary relations (is) to be treated by Boolean functions. Now, the modern mathematical statement of graphs is achieved with the help of the theory of sets, and it looks like subsuming all the other descriptions in one. (The vertices of a graph are regarded as elements of a set which is mapped into itself, of which set the whole graph is then a multi-valued function)" (1968, p.218).

Three different, but related, graph descriptions of a network can be thought of:

- The static "vertical" arborescence representing a supposedly invariable hierarchy (Example: the structural representation of an organization);

- A dynamic "horizontal" arborescence, representing the flow lines of the interconnected variables of the system in time (Example: Critical paths graphs);

- A closed cyclical graph, also allowing for the representation of the dynamics of feedbacks between elements. (Example: M. EIGEN's Hypercycles graphs).

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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