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

STRUCTURE: VARIABLE OR INVARIANT? 1)

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The variable or invariant character of a system's structure is a subject of controversy since long (see for example J.L.LE MOIGNE, 1977, p.160-163).

It is now generally admitted that a structure is diachronic as well as synchronic: each of its instantaneous states is a peculiar aspect of its temporal totality.

In a mature system, only feeble variations of the structure remain possible and one comes quite close to invariance. There are however at least two special cases to consider:

- A growing system undergoes frequently significant structural changes (examples are the moult of insects or the transformations of an organization at its beginnings). However the basic structure is then already a finited matrix of the set of all possible instantaneous structures (the larva of a mosquito will never produce anything else than a mosquito).

- A system faraway from equilibrium and submitted to giant fluctuations tends to transform itself and its structures through the emergence of dissipative structures. In such case the emergence of a new system, quite different of the original one is a distinct possibility. The new system would then be structured in a more complex way than the former one.

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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