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

SEMANTIC FIELD 2)3)4)

The network of all the concepts and ideas (expressed in words) as related to one chosen specific concept.

V.V. NALIMOV shows as an example, the set of connections that can be constructed around the concept of freedom (1982, p. 214-219)

In fact, Nalimov's graphs are only connected and weighted listings, i.e. a kind of static (and statistical) census.

A true semantic field should be multi-connected. It could for example be theoretically possible to draw, under the form of a very complex graph, the multiple interconnections of all the terms in this encyclopedia. We would of course obtain in this way a gigantic and hypercomplex map, whose global understanding would be excessively difficult.

However nodes that would appear in the map, would make it easier to catch its general meaning..

C. HARDY writes: "According to Semantic Field Theory, the basic dynamic of the mind is a connective, dynamic, instantiating spontaneous linkages between elements/processes within Semantic Constellations or between these"(2001, p. 41)

HARDY, who proposes the semantic field concept, adds that "in these dynamical networks… the most pervasive interactive process is that of inter-influences, which VARELA calls "reciprocal influences".

Of course "…there often exist global patterns that harmonize the system…" (such as values, goals, feelings, etc…)

HARDY speaks of an "ordering principle", which is of course a basic feature of any field.

However she does not describes this principle in detail. One could imagine that it resides in the reciprocal constraints resulting from the nascent and growing interactions among elements and processes.

About "values, goals, feelings, etc" Nalimov concedes that any dictionary should be considered "as a filter given by our culture" (p. 214). We would add "… and by our viewpoint. For ex. It is obvious that the concepts of "system" and "feedback" are the basic organizers of the specific semantic field reflected in this Encyclopedia…and are moreover as such rooted in Western culture

Autogenesis; Determinism (Chaotic); Semantic Constellations; Sociality; Supremacy of the complex; Webs (Multilevel); Zero System

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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