LEVEL-SPECIFIC PRINCIPLES
| Collection | International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics |
|---|---|
| Year | 2004 |
| Vol. (num.) | 2(1) |
| ID | ◀ 1910 ▶ |
| Object type | Epistemology, ontology or semantics, Methodology or model |
Our study of nature led us to the discovery - quite recent - that no level of complexity can be totally understood at the lower levels.
In P. ANDERSON's words: “ Psychology is not applied Biology, nor is Biology applied Chemistry” (1972)
To cross from one level to a more complex one we need in each case a principle that prescribes a specific way of organization at that level.
For example the organization of the cell cannot be explained merely by therules of chemical valencies resumed in MENDELEIEV's periodic table of elements.
However principles at each level seem to be somehow intertwined in a more general principle of complexification as for example P. CORNING's synergetic hypothesis, or HAKEN's power laws or slaving principle , or van GIGCH's recursive meta- control.
In one or another way similar principles are to be found in all of the disciplines which study more or less organized complexity , as for example ecology or climatology.