OPERATOR (Observation)
| Collection | International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics |
|---|---|
| Year | 2004 |
| Vol. (num.) | 2(2) |
| ID | ◀ 2361 ▶ |
| Object type | Epistemology, ontology or semantics, Methodology or model |
Observation process operated by a system on itself and on its environment.
The observation operator, traduced into a mathematical formalism created by R. VALLÉE (1951a, p.1350-1; and b, p.1428-9; 1987c, p.460-2; 1995, p.35-58 and 71-82) is used to define the observation limits characteristic of an observing system.
R. VALLÉE, who introduced the concept, states: “The object considered here is the very evolution of the system and its environment which cannot logically be separated, an evolution which is described by function x : t > x(t) where t represents an instant. The distorted and impoverished image of x, which the system perceives, is function y: t>y(t): being understood that, at instant ty(t), what the system believes is x(t), representing the pair constituted by the state at instant t, of the system and the state, at instant t, of its environment” (1990, p.39).
It emerges from this that what the system believes it knows is in fact an imperfect model of the objective situation. It is, in VALLÉE's terms a case of “epistemological subjectivity”.
A system may have various observation operators, corresponding to different interrelated subsystemic functions. VALLÉE describes the rules of observational interactions between 2 or more observation operators (1995, p.37-8) by combining a memorization operator, a decisional operator and an acting (or effecting) operator. This set describes globally in mathematical terms all possible interactions between the system and its environment, leading to what VALLÉE calls the “epistemo-praxeological loop”. Interestingly, he observes that he thus reformulates the basic epistemological meaning of PLATO's Cave.
See also
Transfer (Inverse)