MACROSCOPIC and MICROSCOPIC
| Collection | International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics |
|---|---|
| Year | 2004 |
| Vol. (num.) | 2(1) |
| ID | ◀ 1979 ▶ |
| Object type | General information, Human sciences, Methodology or model |
There is a basically thermodynamic relation between the statistical microscopic level and the deterministic macroscopic level of behavior of a system. (I. PRIGOGINE, 1978, 1/1).
Macroscopic determinism expresses the global coherence constraints surging from, and imposed to the microscopic behavior resulting from interactions. This is for example what happens when a gas is enclosed within a container: molecular stochastic movement is translated at the macroscopic level as global conditions of temperature, volume and pressure.
This correspondence between microscopic and macroscopic behavior also seems to be the hidden condition of Adam SMITH supposed “invisible hand” in economic processes or generally, of the emergence of great conceptual or ideological currents.