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

SIMILARITY 1)

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A likeness between systems structures and,or processes.

The concept of similarity is quite elusive. It is not merely an analogy, in a metaphorical sense, but the clear recognition of an homomorphism. Similarity is observed. This means, in A KOESTLER's words, that it "involves processes of abstraction and generalization in the nervous system which are largely unexplained" (1964, p.201).

To become more than an analogy, similarity must be described in topological (i.e. graphical) or mathematical terms. KOESTLER, for instance, speaks of "bisociation of conceptual matrixes", which implies a kind of mapping, or pattern-matching.

Recognizing similarities is a highly creative mental process, typically systemic. It produces at times amazing results, as for example when A. WEGENER introduced the idea of continental drift, conducive to plate tectonics, having observed geographical complementary similarities in the forms of continents.

The observation of some dissimilarities, on a background of similarities, can be just as productive, as shown by DARWIN's Galapagos finches.

"Similitude" is a synonym unfrequently used.

→ Self-similarity

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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