NESTING PRINCIPLE
| Collection | International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics |
|---|---|
| Year | 2004 |
| Vol. (num.) | 2(2) |
| ID | ◀ 2250 ▶ |
| Object type | General information, Epistemology, ontology or semantics |
Any unit becomes, or is embedded as a part in some more global unit.
The principle is basic to J.J. GIBSON's way to understand levels of perception. In his words: “The smaller units are embedded in the larger units by what I will call nesting. For example, canyons are nested within mountains; trees are nested within canyons; leaves are nested within trees; and cells are nested within leaves. There are forms within forms both up and down the scale of size”.
As a result: “The unit you choose for describing the environment depends on the level of the environment you choose to describe” (1986, p.9).
This is one more expression of the quite general perception of levels of complexity, very basic for any systemic description. The concept, which offers a dynamic as well as a static aspect, is closely related to those of criticality, embedment, fractals, niche, subsystem, suprasystem, wholes and parts, etc…