META-CONCEPTS
| Collection | International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics |
|---|---|
| Year | 2004 |
| Vol. (num.) | 2(1) |
| ID | ◀ 2089 ▶ |
| Object type | General information, Epistemology, ontology or semantics |
Those concepts of very general character whose span of validity covers numerous different types of situations and systems.
All cybernetic and systemic concepts are meta-concepts. The interconnected set of systemic meta-concepts constitutes a metalanguage within which specific statements originating in some discipline can be generalized. They can thus be used to emphasize significant analogies and isomorphisms between the models we may construct in different disciplines, related to different systems.
For example, feedbacks can be observed in many physical, biological, human and artificial systems, and autopoiesis is proper to any kind of living systems or systems made of living systems (i.e. social systems).
Cybernetic and systemic meta-concepts provide guidelines for transdiciplinarity because they offer a common metalanguage and meta-models to specialists, a way to obtain meta-skills and avoid costly errors when participating in complex projects.