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.

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NUCLEUS (Original) 1)2)

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The minimal initial structure from and around which the system will construct itself by replication and, in many cases, by differentiation.

This concept was introduced by BOULDING in 1953, but until V. CSANYI's work (1989, 1993), it had never been duly scrutinized, at least in its systemic sense. The original nucleus seems to contain a kind of basic algorithm needed to guarantee the autopoietic future of the system, i.e. its permanent identity and coherence.

However, the potential of this algorithm does reveal itself by progressive differentiation and structuration through interactions of the system with its significant environment (which becomes also defined by the original nucleus).

In very complex systems, the potential of the algorithm is so enormous that it can never be completely expressed during the life-time of the system, which must make "choices" frequently and generally cannot retrocede to anterior forms of organization. These choices imply a progressive limitation of the virtual possibilities of the system. Such comments apply to individual personalities, organizations and cultures.

BOULDING also observes that the nucleus is generally some heterogeneous element or "impurity", wherever it appears. This seminal comment, in turn and unfortunately did never arouse much attention.

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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