Cybernetics & Human Knowing - Thesaurus pilot project
Edited by M&T Thellefsen

Eigen-value

Definition
That value of a variable to which an operation defined in that variable converges.

Like equilibrium, eigen values are stable points in the domain of computation and a property of the operation (PC)

The series of selfproduced repeated and stable values that result of recursive operations in a organizationally closed system. (IESC)

Eigen values represent equilibria, and depending upon the chosen domain of the primary argument, these equilibria may be equilibral values (fixed points)…(IESC)

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Definitions

Principia Cybernetica
International Encyclopedia of Systems & Cybernetics

 

Principia Cybernetica (web)
That value of a VARIABLE to which an OPERATION defined in that variable converges (see CONVERGENCE). Like

EQUILIBRIUM, eigen values are stable points in the domain of computation and a property of the operation. E.g., x' = 3D

(x+1)/2 converges to an eigen value of 1 (see ITERATION). (Krippendorff)

 

Encyclopedia Autopoietica
no def.

International Encyclopedia of Systems & Cybernetics
The series of self-produced repeated and stable values that result of recursive operations in a organizationally closed system.

H. von FOERSTER, who introduced this partly German term, stated: "…Eigen-values are discrete (even if the domain of the primary argument obs0 is continuous)…"

"…Eigen-values represent equilibria, and depending upon the chosen domain of te primary argument, these equilibria may be equilibrial values ("fixed points"), functional equilibria, operational equilibria, structural equilibria, etc.

"…Eigenvalues, because of their self-defining (or self-generative) nature imply topological "closure" ("circularity")" (1976, p.93)

As a result, any observer’s view of reality is always self-constructed. In von FOERSTER’s words: "Ontologically. Eigen-values and objects, and like-wise, ontogenetically, stable behavior and the manifestations of a subject’s "grasp" cannot be distinguished. In both cases "objects" appear to reside exclusively in the subject’s own experience of his sensory-motor coordinations" (p.94).