ISOLATION and REPRODUCIBILITY
| Collection | International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics |
|---|---|
| Year | 2004 |
| Vol. (num.) | 2(1) |
| ID | ◀ 1791 ▶ |
| Object type | General information |
According to N. PEGUIRON: “The isolation (of processes in order to study them is used to show the specificity of theeffects resulting from acause \term:{ it is thus the basic instrument for seeking reproducibility. This act}, when performed, implies the supposition that the essence of thephenomenon which is studied is retained; it thus restricts the field of investigation to theisolated systems \term:{ the properties of a (connected) system}, basically resulting of itsinteractions with itsenvironment totally escape from it” 1989, p.10.
Accordingly, the well known “…et ceteris paribus” principle, generally implicit, is usable only in order to obtain abstractions that can be applied to monocausal and repetitive situations.
PEGUIRON adds: “But there is something worse: If pushed to its extreme limit, the isolation process is an abstraction which is not only completely impossible to perform practically, but, should it be, would not let anyone to account for the phenomena, as we observe them” (Ibid).
It must be however recognized that, without the isolation (and basically reductionnist) method, it would not have been possible to start the upbuilding of modern science and, 350 years later, finally tackle complexity.