SYSTEM (Structure)
| Collection | International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics |
|---|---|
| Year | 2004 |
| Vol. (num.) | 2(2) |
| ID | ◀ 3415 ▶ |
| Object type | Epistemology, ontology or semantics, Methodology or model |
- “One overall system that integrates several systems that share some variables or interact in some other way” (Adapted from G. KLIR, 1991, p.58).
Or “a set of interacting behavior or state-transition systems” (KLIR,.1988, p.151).
KLIR adds: “The subsystems forming a structure system are often called its elements. When elements of structure systems are themselves structure systems, we call the overall system a second-order structure system. Higher-order structure systems are defined recursively in the same way… Different categories of structure systems are thus distinguished by their orders and by the type of their ultimate elements” (1991, p.58).
KLIR also shows how structure systems can be conveniently represented by block diagrams (p.59), and how the ordering of epistemological systems categories can be described by semi-lattices (p.69).
Connecting the behavioral and state-transitional aspects of the system, KLIR reaches the epistemologically highest level in the hierarchy of inquiring methods that he proposed, in relation to his reconstructability analysis.
It is clear that he understands “structure” as a set of diachronic and interconnected transformations.