CAUSALITY (Linear)
Charles François (2004). CAUSALITY (Linear), International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics, 2(1): 378.
| Collection | International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics |
|---|---|
| Year | 2004 |
| Vol. (num.) | 2(1) |
| ID | ◀ 378 ▶ |
| Object type | Epistemology, ontology or semantics, Methodology or model |
A causal relation without feedbacks, in which cause comes always “before” and effect “afterwards”.
This is the classical concept of causality, of strictly deterministic character, allowing perfect predictability. It implies the absolute, or for practical purposes, near absolute stability of the general environment of the process inside and outside of the system (“Et ceteris paribus”).
While, in E. JANTSCH's words: “It is frequently efficient for the description of changes in a non-systemic and short term perspective” (1975, p.118), it is also frequently more or less useless for complex and/or long term forecasting.