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

ORDER OR ORGANIZATION? 1)

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According to J. WICKEN (quoted by R.N. ADAMS): "Biological structures are not 'ordered' in the sense prescribed by information theory; they are 'organized'…whereas ordered systems are generated according to simple algorithms and therefore lack complexity, organized systems must be assembled element by element according to an external 'wiring diagram' with high informational context" (1979,p.353-61).

The "wiring diagram" seems to be a somewhat dubious metaphor. The "diagram" is nowhere to be found in living beings or societies, which start at most with positional values, and resulting polarizations.

K. DENBIGH'S formulation (also quoted by ADAMS) seems clearer and less inspired from a mechanicist metaphor: "… a crystal is more "orderly" than a cell since in the former the atoms and molecules stand in a fixed relationship to each other; they repeat themselves at fixed distances… The cell, however, is more organized. DENBIGH does not attempt a final definition of organization but does suggest two requirements. One is that of "complexity": an organized system necessarily consists of parts and subparts and these are interconnected" (1988, p.73) (One could say that the parts are very heterogeneous, as they result from an intense process of differentiation).

"Secondly, a further necessary condition for a system to be said organized depends on the notion of function… One cannot speak about something being organized without at once raising the issue, what it is organized for?" (DENBIGH, 1975, p.85)

In synthesis, order should be considered repetitive, while organization is heterogeneous, complementary and hierarchical.

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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