NOTHING BUT FALLACY
| Collection | International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics |
|---|---|
| Year | 2004 |
| Vol. (num.) | 2(2) |
| ID | ◀ 2317 ▶ |
| Object type | General information, Epistemology, ontology or semantics, Methodology or model |
The kind of superficial analogy that blocks the mind in a restricted and excluding schema about some entity or issue .
This fallacy was strongly denounced by K.L.von BERTALANFFY. An example is: “An organism is nothing but a machine ”. Vague analogies should be replaced by the perception and clear understanding of specific and limited similarities .
Even the term “isomorphism ”, proposed by Bertalanffy himself, should be used carefully. In fact any “isomorphic” model of an entity is no more than homomorphic . It represents merely some selected and seemingly significant aspects of the entity.
Only models of two or more different entities could be isomorphic models. A good example are the isomorphisms between levels in MILLER's taxonomy of living systems .
To avoid mere analogical fallacies, Bertalanffy resorted to mathematical expressions as far as possible. M. DAVIDSON, (quoted by M. MULEJ) wrote: “By using differential calculus, he was able to provide mathematical precision to such GST concepts as dynamic equilibrium (the steady state), the import of energy from the environment (negentropy), and self-restoration in response to external disturbances (equifinality)”
Topology is now also a source of precise modelling for isomorphisms in processes . Examples areattractors or Poincaré sections . Other useful precise models are networks, power laws , renormalization transformations .
Graphs and matrixes are also useful.