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

OBSERVATION (Self) 1)3)4)

In the tracks of SOCRATES, E. MORIN states that we need a rationality that be not only critical, but also self -critical.

He writes: "Learning of self-observation is part of learning lucidity" 1999 (p. 55). If we cannot do it, we are condemned to self -deception in the guise of very "imperfect perceptions and hallucinating rationalizations"(Ibid.)

Of course, the basic condition for self-observation is the acquisition of awareness under the guidance of systemic understanding of our own complexity (biological, mental and psychological) and of our interrelation with our natural and socio-cultural environment.

Self-observation by the observer is certainly a most needed endeavor… and at the same time probably the most difficult; as so many people are loath to question themselves.

It is however a systemic and cybernetic absolute necessity. We need a permanent revalidation of our views and frames of reference. And this amounts to a mental and even more difficult psychological disjuntion from ourselves.

We would need feedbacks on our own thoughts and decisions, in order to try to avoid being puppets of ourselves (and, by the way, of other people)

This should start by self -inquiry, answering questions as for instance:

- why do I (drink, smoke, quarrel, etc.)?

- why did the results of this or that decision be so adverse?

- in which way did I misunderstood this issue?

- why is this fellow so hostile to me?

We should always remember J. FOURASTIE's comment: "There is something worse than ignorance; it is the ignorance of ignorance". And still worse is the ignorance of the causes of ignorance.

What we need basically are mental, behavioral and even physiological feedbacks to ourselves. If we don't know how to create and understand them, we cannot become good systemists, nor managers of ourselves or anything else.

Autopoiesis; Behavior (Self-organizing); Cybernetics (2 Order); Double-bind; Psychology (Systemic); Self-exception fallacy; Self-reference

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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