BLINDSPOTS
| Collection | International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics |
|---|---|
| Year | 2004 |
| Vol. (num.) | 2(1) |
| ID | ◀ 311 ▶ |
| Object type | Epistemology, ontology or semantics |
The non-perception of some aspects of problem situations.
H.von FOERSTER uses the example of the ocular blindspot as a metaphor for psychological and mental selective blindness. P. LEDINGTON has given a remarquable example of this anti-systemic disease (1992, p.57), but many others are well-known. The basic causes are the difficulties for specialists to see aspects of a situation outside their own field, their feeling of righteousness about their own way to tackle a problem and their tendency to mere technical patching up.
LEDINGTON observes that there is also a kind of communities blindness — through subsumption of individual and groups blindness — which does not allow them to face their problems in a coherent way.
G. de ZEEUW's “invisibility” and R.S. ACKOFF's fables and parables are closely related to the blindspots problem.
The elimination — or at least, reduction - of blindspots can be obtained through conversation among various observers who observe the same situation . In effect, each one observes or can observe the blindspots of the other observers and thus contribute to their detection