Selforganization: Portrait Of A Scientific Revolution (sociology Of The Sciences Yearbook)

may be complex without being able to be replaced by something »still more simple«. This became evident with the help of computer models of deterministic-recursive systems in which simple mathematical equation systems provide an extremely complex behavior. (2) Irregularity of nature is not treated as an anomaly but becomes the focus of research and thus is declared to be normal. One looks for regularity within irregularity. Non-equilibrium processes are recognized as the source of order and the search for equilibrium is replaced by the search for the dynamics of processes. (3) The classical system-environment model, according to which the adaptation of a system to its environment is controlled externally and according to which the adaptation of the system occurs in the course of a learning process, is replaced by a model of systemic closure. This closure is operational in so far as the effects produced by the system are the causes for the maintenance of systemic organization. If there is sufficient complexity, the systems perform internal self-observation and exert self-control (»Cognition« as understood by Maturana as self-perception and self-limitation, e. g. , that of a cell vis-a. -vis its environment). 22 But any information a system provides on its environment is a system-internal construct. The »reference to the other« is merely a special case of »self-reference«. The social sciences frequently have suffered from the careless way in which scientific ideas and models have been transferred. May be complex without being able to be replaced by something {raquo}still more simple{laquo}. This became evident with the help of computer models of deterministic-recursive systems in which simple mathematical equation systems provide an extremely complex behavior. (2) Irregularity of nature is not treated as an anomaly but becomes the focus of research and thus is declared to be normal. One looks for regularity within irregularity. Non-equilibrium processes are recognized as the source of order and the search for equilibrium is replaced by the search for the dynamics of processes. (3) The classical system-environment model, according to which the adaptation of a system to its environment is controlled externally and according to which the adaptation of the system occurs in the course of a learning process, is replaced by a model of systemic closure. This closure is operational in so far as the effects produced by the system are the causes for the maintenance of systemic organization. If there is sufficient complexity, the systems perform internal self-observation and exert self-control ({raquo}Cognition{laquo} as understood by Maturana as self-perception and self-limitation, e. g., that of a cell vis-a.-vis its environment). 22 But any information a system provides on its environment is a system-internal construct. The {raquo}reference to the other{laquo} is merely a special case of {raquo}self-reference{laquo}. The social sciences frequently have suffered from the careless way in which scientific ideas and models have been transferred Front Matter....Pages i-vi Selforganization — the Convergence of Ideas An Introduction....Pages 1-10 Front Matter....Pages 11-11 Science and Daily Life: The Ontology of Scientific Explanations....Pages 12-35 Self-Organization, Emergent Properties and the Unity of the World....Pages 36-50 On a Fundamental Paradigm Shift in the Natural Sciences....Pages 51-63 The Cognitive Program of Constructivism and a Reality that Remains Unknown....Pages 64-85 Front Matter....Pages 86-86 How the Law Thinks: Toward a Constructivist Epistemology of Law....Pages 87-113 Self-Regulation in Social Systems....Pages 114-127 Systemic Therapy A Particular Drift between Systems Theory and Psychotherapy....Pages 128-142 Literary Systems as Self-Organizing Systems....Pages 143-153 Chekhov’s Letter: Linguistic System and its Discontents....Pages 154-168 Front Matter....Pages 169-169 Concepts of Self-Organization in the 19th Century....Pages 170-180 Cognitive Systems as Self-Organizing Systems....Pages 181-193 Front Matter....Pages 194-194 Self-Organization and Autopoiesis in the Development of Modern Science....Pages 195-207 Science as a Self-Organizing System Outline of a Theoretical Model....Pages 208-222 Actor-Networks vs. Science as a Self-Organizing System: A Comparative View of Two Constructivist Approaches....Pages 223-239 Self-Organization and New Social Movements....Pages 240-254 Back Matter....Pages 255-271