SYSTEMIC PROPERTIES: a tentative listing
| Collection | International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics |
|---|---|
| Year | 2004 |
| Vol. (num.) | 2(2) |
| ID | ◀ 3430 ▶ |
| Object type | General information |
- A whole is more than the sum of its parts (it includes the interactions of the parts and their possible multi-functionality)
- A part may have different action potentials in different systems (H in NH4, or in HCl).
- A reliable system can sometimes be made of unreliable, but interacting parts (von NEUMANN)
- A whole tends to maintain a specific and a dynamic stability in time , by being adaptive.
- In a whole , internal relationships are frequently organized in networks .
- Internal networks are dynamic and adaptive through multiple simultaneous and repeated feedbacks .
- Adaptiveness remains constrained within defined limits , frequently in a cyclical way (limit cycles).
- A whole is autonomous in relation to its specific environment , i.e. is able to determine within limits its relationship s with it (for ex. Internal temperature regulation in mammifers; or Input s and outputs flows in an entreprise).
- A whole can associate with others and build wholes of higher complexity (Fusions between entreprises, the European Union)
Generally speaking, systemic properties conform a set of correlated explanations , useful to describe integrate behavior in entities and issues made of numerous interacting elements , as contrasted, but also complementary to the more classical analytic approach .