MORPHOSTASIS
Charles François (2004). MORPHOSTASIS, International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics, 2(2): 2210.
| Collection | International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics |
|---|---|
| Year | 2004 |
| Vol. (num.) | 2(2) |
| ID | ◀ 2210 ▶ |
| Object type | General information, Human sciences, Methodology or model |
- “The processes in complex system-environment exchanges that tend to preserve or maintain a system's given form, organization or state” (E. LASZLO, 1974, p 35).
- “Character of a system which in spite of perturbations it must endure, goes back to one of the states included in its repertory and maintains its organization within clearly defined limits ”(p.35).
To maintain itself in morphostasis, the system needs to be able to correct any deviation from the set of its admitted repertory of states. This is obtained by a predominance of negative feedbacks when the system is coming too close to some instability threshold.
Morphostasis is also a necesary consequence of organizational closure and autopoiesis.
LASZLO gives the following example; “Negative feedback (morphostatic) processes dominate when innovation in a society is at a low ebb and the society is primarily devoted to coping with its environmental contingencies through the existing norms and codes of organized behavior” (Ibid, p.36-37).