REFLEXIVITY
Charles François (2004). REFLEXIVITY, International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics, 2(2): 2793.
| Collection | International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics |
|---|---|
| Year | 2004 |
| Vol. (num.) | 2(2) |
| ID | ◀ 2793 ▶ |
| Object type | General information |
The potentiality for any component of a complex system to exert some determinating action on any other component.
This concept has been introduced by J.W. SUTHERLAND in his “General Systems philosophy for the social and behavioral sciences” (1973, p.39, 99).
SUTHERLAND expresses that reflexibility can be “… so intense that the part removed from context for analysis becomes a fiction of no ontological (i.e., real) significance” (p.39).
Another important consequence of reflexibility is that, as any component may at any moment interact with any other one, the macrodeterminism of the system is somewhat reduced, and semi-deterministic chaos may appear.