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

SAINT MATTHEW PRINCIPLE (MARGALEF) 1)2)4)

← Back

"For whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he has" (Matt. 13.12)

(Also known as Saint Mark Principle, 4.25)

This New Testament quote, remembereded by R. MARGALEF, has been translated by him in terms of an ecological principle as follows: "When two systems interact, information increases relatively more in that one which is already more complex, as it seems to feed from the more simple and may assimilate it" (1980, p.28).

Or "The system bigger in terms of acquired information is always able to make better use of information; that is to say to assimilate and multiply it" (p.27).

MARGALEF considers this principle as "… extraordinarily valuable in ecology as well as in General Theory of Systems. It could contribute to sharpen the gradients of any property that may be interpreted as an information carrier" (Ibid).

Indeed, the principle accounts for the progressive evolutive build-up of more complex systems, by integration of simpler ones: Industrial take-over and absorption of archaictribes by bigger human groups are examples.

→ SIMON's Hora and Tempus Parable.

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:

© 2020 BCSSS Contact/Imprint