UNFOLDMENT
| Collection | International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics |
|---|---|
| Year | 2004 |
| Vol. (num.) | 2(2) |
| ID | ◀ 3685 ▶ |
| Object type | General information |
The gradual development of a system's internal order.
In complex systems, since their very genesis, there is an implicit (or in D. BÖHM's terminology “implicate”) order, which becomes revealed as the system grows. Viewed from this approach, as stated by F. DAVID PEAT: “The universe is sustained through an act of creative unfoldment in which no order is absolutely fixed, but is able to respond to an ever-changing context” (1987, p.215).
This is a very general property of biological, social or conceptual systems. An interesting example is the development of a musical fugue.
Unfoldment is a possibility implicit in organizational closure.
However, unfoldment is never total, since it depends on the external constraints that the system will meet during its development.