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

SCIENTIFIC REALISM 3)

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In his review of Ch. LANDESMAN's "Introduction to Epistemology", J.van GIGCH writes:

"Scientific realism is a claim about the aims of scientific inquiry. It is a form or realism and rejects the various forms of idealism and constructivism which say that the world we are trying to gain knowledge of, does not have an independent and objective existence. It also rejects the skepticism which claims that this aim is unrealizable. According to LANDESMAN, "scientific activity is a self-correcting activity that is progressive: it gradually provides betterand better accounts of the way the world is, and eliminates theories that are epistemically defective"(1999, p. 90)

In fact, these views are very similar to POPPER's.

LANDESMAN adds: "If the success of applied science is no accident, that it is plausible to suppose that our theories capture at least some aspects of reality to some extent"(Ibid)

Of course, even the philosopher most skeptical about reality will not skip his dinner because he cannot be sure it is "real".

→ Ontological skepticism

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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