CYBERNETICS & HUMAN KNOWING

A Journal of Second Order Cybernetics & Cyber-Semiotics

Volume 5, No.1 1998

Review of International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics

Editor: Charles Francois
K.G. Saur, München, 1997, 423 p.

By Maj-Britt Rosenkilde, Anja Abel Sørensen, Christine Nordentoft and Søren Brier

Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics attempts to encompass the whole field of Systems and Cybernetics. The author, who originally worked in general system theory, demonstrates how many similar concepts and models have appeared independently in many different disciplines. He wonders if synthesis and short cuts might be possible and as well to interconnect various streams in the field. The author's viewpoint is global, ecological and in opposition to linear and reductionist models, and he claims: "Systemics is the most important mental and physical mutation since at least the Renaissance." (p. 7-8).

The main objective of the present work is to correlate and unify the language of Systemics and Cybernetics in order to transform it into an efficient tool for the study of complexity. To create a conceptual hologram of the whole field of Systems and Cybernetics as it is now. The encyclopedia offers an attempt to connect the various terms from many disciplines and thereby create a meaningful conceptual structure and to raise a kind of systems building out of it. He wants to provide specialists and non-ditto with a meta-language that opens the possibility for conversation and transdisciplinary conversation in order to enable specialists and non-specialists to tackle global and complex situations together.

This is a very ambitious goal and before we make up our mind whether this is achieved, we will look closer at the encyclopedia.

The encyclopedia is built up alphabetically with about 3000 entries and 1200 references. It has a remarkably good typographical layout and consists of three parts. The first is the individual entries, which have marks for what kind of information can be found in each. Second is an appendix with a list of journals and proceedings. The last part is a bibliography.

According to the editor the encyclopedia can be used from high school level up, even though not all subjects will be crystal clear for all readers. In our opinion, novice-users (newcomers) must be on a certain level (university) to fully understand the contents of the encyclopedia. Novice-users must make persistent efforts in studying the subjects due to the many concepts that are emphasized in bold type (which eases cross references across the entire work). In order to understand the concepts the novice-users must read the encyclopedia more than once, as each concept refers to at least seven other concepts, which itself also has several cross references. This is a very fine help but also a very great burden to contemplate. Perhaps some kind of introductory text would help. See also the discussion of the historical perspective below.

The editor also uses the concepts in bold type as a learning process where the user is forced to stop and reconsider the meaning of the concepts once more.

We see a danger in these cross-references, analogous to hyper-links, where the novice-user can get lost in the system because of uncertainty about the meaning of the concepts in the encyclopedia.

For the intermediate user (uses the encyclopedia from time to time) the encyclopedia is a well qualified work of reference. Such users will not need so much information from cross-references.

For the expert-user: The work is very rich, covering well the whole transdisciplinary area, where there are so many different sub-schools and paradigms. Francois has done a tremendous job and a great service to systems and cybernetics, and we would like to underline that writing is difficult and criticizing is easy - and even more so than usual in this attempt to cover such a huge area with multitudes of opinions and angles. So the following remarks must be seen as help in carrying on this great task.

In general this is an encyclopedia, not a dictionary, and it is much richer in concepts and in explanations than the dictionary on the Principia Cybernetica homepage. Now and then one is provided relatively short and precise definitions of terms, but for the most there is also - or only - a discussion of different researchers' use of the term or point of view on the subject matter, mostly backed up by quotes from primarily material. This is very elucidating, although sometimes it is difficult to see where the editor's opinion starts and stops, where different viewpoints compete. Sometimes there is so much and varied material that one ends up confused. This is not necessarily bad if this is actually the state of understandingin this field. But if one wants to keep it simple, stay with the shorter definitions in the dictionary on the Principia Cybernetics homepage.

The criteria for concepts are very broad and many unfamiliar terms are mentioned besides terms used in the literature. Special concepts are included insofar they have had any significant relation to systemics or the term introduces some significant systemic meaning. Although the broad criteria for concepts may possibly create difficulties in grasping the essence of systems concepts, or one might end up in accepting every concept as systems (if one does not handle the encyclopedia with care), the broad criteria for concepts create a picture of a hypercomplex world where growing complexity makes the holistic view, which the systems approach attempts to emphasize the importance of, very apparent, and a new way to look more globally at the world even more necessary. Furthermore the broad criteria for concepts create a possibility for illuminating in mature concepts of the field and for mutual enrichment, as well as finding significant linkages within in the field.

One can look up various schools, organizations and journals and there is a very rich and valuable reference list in the work. But we would benefit from a characterization of these schools against each other and maybe even an attempt to place researchers within some of the schools/paradigms such as general systems theory contra second order cybernetics, so one can see which views compete when different definitions are presented in a paragraph.

Our special focus on this work is its usefulness for second order cybernetics and autopoiesis theory: others must give opinions on its usefulness seen from other positions and paradigms. Looking through all the articles we found around 60 terms typical for second order cybernetics, but it is not very clearly marked that they are terms from a different position than the rest, although one can read about second order cybernetics and von Foerster and about autopoiesis and Maturana and Varela. It was interesting to note that such essential terms for autopoiesis theory as for example: languaging, consensual domain, consensual distinction, compensatory change, communicative domain, cognitive domain, behavioral coupling and biological phenomenology were not to be found. Furthermore, the definition of coupling does not represent the autopoietic understanding of this concept. The definition of system ( cybernetic) is in our opinon not specific enough and it is too vague to be really helpful. The definition of the concept structural coupling goes not deep enough into the evolutionary and cognitive significance of this concept in autopoiesis theory to give a profound understanding. Within second order cybernetics we do not think that there is an optimal number of original quotes from Maturana, Varela and Luhmann - not to mention Glanville.

It is a strength that the encyclopedia also covers some aspects of semiotics, especially Peirce´s semiotics, which in our opinion is the theory of signification that fits second order cybernetics and general systems theory best. The covering of language, pragmatics and semantics is somewhat weak.

Perhaps the encyclopedia would benefit from a short historical overview over a couple of pages, with some illustrative maps and definitions of schools and key persons in the introduction. This would strengthen the historical and dynamic perspective that is so important in systems and cybernetics, and make the diversity of schools clear for the reader. This would equip them better to use the encyclopedia, which cannot of course do anything else than present the terms in one alphabetical sequence on an equal basis. But one could add a system of marks signaling which school point of view - often a quote - is from.

The weakness in the encyclopedia is partly in the sources and partly in the bibliography. Translation and retranslation has been noticed, but the author states that the best recent author used is not always the original. Many of the used sources are second hand, which means that these are already interpreted (and thereby colored by the author).

In the bibliography it would had been an advantage if there had been cross-references to other authors who are not the first author (for instance like Varela, who worked with Maturana, cannot be located without knowing that he is placed under Maturana´s name). It would also have been nice if the form of names weres the same all through the work (for instance the author Ernst von Glaserfeld is placed under "von Glaserfeld E." in the Supplement and under "Glaserfeld, Ernst von" in the bibliography.

The editor is planning to prepare future updates of the encyclopedia, which gives an opportunity to adjust these slight imperfections. For the future updates we see a CD-ROM-edition as an evident and useful supplement to the work.

As for the goal of the encyclopedia to establish a better ground of communication (both transdisciplinary as well as between specialists and non) within Systems and Cybernetics, we believe that this work is a useful step in the right direction. Despite our suggestions, this is a unique work that every major research and educational library should have. It is a very valuable reference work for researchers, teachers and students in the field, and therefore for all libraries in research and educational institutions. A supplement in form of a more dictionary-like work can, as mentioned, be found on the Principia Cybernetica web site. Further Encyclopedia Autopoietica on the Internet is now available for use on the www-address:

http://www.informatik.umu.se/~rwhit/EAIntro.html

CYBERNETICS & HUMAN KNOWING

Contents:

Review of International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics