Tectology
Encyclopedia
Tectology is a term used by Alexander Bogdanov
to describe a discipline that consisted of unifying all social, biological and physical sciences, by considering them as systems of relationships, and by seeking the organizational principles that underlie all systems. Bogdanov invented an original philosophy that he called “tectology” which is now regarded as a precursor of systems theory
and related aspects of synergetics
. The word tectology was developed by Ernst Haeckel
, but was used to a different purpose by Bogdanov.
in Cybernetics
and Ludwig von Bertalanffy
in the General Systems Theory. There are suggestions that both Wiener and von Bertalanffy might have read the German edition of Tektology which was published in 1928.
", through the identification of universal organizational principle
s: "all things are organizational, all complexes could only be understood through their organizational character. This is (historically) the first identification of philosophical "complexes" in the natural sciences, to denote a combination of elements of `activity - resistance'. Bogdanov considered that any complex should correspond to its environment and adapt to it. A stable and organized complex is greater than the sum of its parts. In Tectology, the term 'stability' refers not to a dynamic stability
, but to the possibility of preserving the complex in the given environment. A 'complex' is not identical to a 'complicated, a hard-to-comprehend, large unit
.
Furthermore Bogdanov created a unique conception, as the first 'modern' attempt at formulating the most general laws of organization
. Tectology was created by Bogdanov to address issues such as holistic, emergent
phenomena and systemic development. This constructive science built the elements into a functional entity by a science of the general laws which determine the organization.
According to his "empirio-monistic" principle (1899) he does not recognize differences between observation
and perception
and thus creates the beginning of a general empirical, supradisciplinary (yet not supernatural) science. In his time of mostly physicalistic view, the starting point of Bogdanov's investigation, was 'organization', as an expedient unity
. Indeed it meant the cradle of Systems Theory
and Holism
.
The "whole" in Tectology, the laws of integrity were derived from biological rather than the physicalistic view of the world. Regarding the three scientific cycles which comprise the basis of Tectology (mathematical, physico-biological, and natural-philosophical), it is from the physico-biological cycle that the central concepts have been taken and universalized.
Starting point in A. Bogdanov's Universal Science of Organization - Tectology (1913-1922) was that nature has a general, organized character, with one set of laws of organization for all objects. Contained is an internal development of the complex units, as implied by Simona Poustilnik
's "macro-paradigm", which induces synergistic consequences into an adaptive assembling phenomenon (1995). Bogdanov's visionary view of nature was an 'organization' with an interconnection into systems. The notions in A. Bogdanov's Tectology outlined the concepts and concerns of Complexity Theory
by a full 50 years in advance of the chaos
and fractal
mathematics.
Alexander Bogdanov
Alexander Aleksandrovich Bogdanov –7 April 1928, Moscow) was a Russian physician, philosopher, science fiction writer, and revolutionary of Belarusian ethnicity....
to describe a discipline that consisted of unifying all social, biological and physical sciences, by considering them as systems of relationships, and by seeking the organizational principles that underlie all systems. Bogdanov invented an original philosophy that he called “tectology” which is now regarded as a precursor of systems theory
Systems theory
Systems theory is the transdisciplinary study of systems in general, with the goal of elucidating principles that can be applied to all types of systems at all nesting levels in all fields of research...
and related aspects of synergetics
Synergetics
Synergetics is an interdisciplinary science explaining the formation and self-organization of patterns and structures in open systems far from thermodynamic equilibrium. It is founded by Hermann Haken, inspired by the laser theory....
. The word tectology was developed by Ernst Haeckel
Ernst Haeckel
The "European War" became known as "The Great War", and it was not until 1920, in the book "The First World War 1914-1918" by Charles à Court Repington, that the term "First World War" was used as the official name for the conflict.-Research:...
, but was used to a different purpose by Bogdanov.
Overview
His work Tektology: Universal Organization Science, published in Russia between 1912 and 1917, anticipated many of the ideas that were popularized later by Norbert WienerNorbert Wiener
Norbert Wiener was an American mathematician.A famous child prodigy, Wiener later became an early researcher in stochastic and noise processes, contributing work relevant to electronic engineering, electronic communication, and control systems.Wiener is regarded as the originator of cybernetics, a...
in Cybernetics
Cybernetics
Cybernetics is the interdisciplinary study of the structure of regulatory systems. Cybernetics is closely related to information theory, control theory and systems theory, at least in its first-order form...
and Ludwig von Bertalanffy
Ludwig von Bertalanffy
Karl Ludwig von Bertalanffy was an Austrian-born biologist known as one of the founders of general systems theory . GST is an interdisciplinary practice that describes systems with interacting components, applicable to biology, cybernetics, and other fields...
in the General Systems Theory. There are suggestions that both Wiener and von Bertalanffy might have read the German edition of Tektology which was published in 1928.
Tectology: Topics
According to Bogdanov "the aim of Tectology is the systematization of organized experienceExperience
Experience as a general concept comprises knowledge of or skill in or observation of some thing or some event gained through involvement in or exposure to that thing or event....
", through the identification of universal organizational principle
Principle
A principle is a law or rule that has to be, or usually is to be followed, or can be desirably followed, or is an inevitable consequence of something, such as the laws observed in nature or the way that a system is constructed...
s: "all things are organizational, all complexes could only be understood through their organizational character. This is (historically) the first identification of philosophical "complexes" in the natural sciences, to denote a combination of elements of `activity - resistance'. Bogdanov considered that any complex should correspond to its environment and adapt to it. A stable and organized complex is greater than the sum of its parts. In Tectology, the term 'stability' refers not to a dynamic stability
Stability constants of complexes
A stability constant is an equilibrium constant for the formation of a complex in solution. It is a measure of the strength of the interaction between the reagents that come together to form the complex...
, but to the possibility of preserving the complex in the given environment. A 'complex' is not identical to a 'complicated, a hard-to-comprehend, large unit
Unit
-Mathematics:* Unit , an element that is invertible with respect to ring multiplication* 1 , the unit number* Unit vector, a of the class of objects being studied-Science and technology:...
.
Furthermore Bogdanov created a unique conception, as the first 'modern' attempt at formulating the most general laws of organization
Organization
An organization is a social group which distributes tasks for a collective goal. The word itself is derived from the Greek word organon, itself derived from the better-known word ergon - as we know `organ` - and it means a compartment for a particular job.There are a variety of legal types of...
. Tectology was created by Bogdanov to address issues such as holistic, emergent
Emergence
In philosophy, systems theory, science, and art, emergence is the way complex systems and patterns arise out of a multiplicity of relatively simple interactions. Emergence is central to the theories of integrative levels and of complex systems....
phenomena and systemic development. This constructive science built the elements into a functional entity by a science of the general laws which determine the organization.
According to his "empirio-monistic" principle (1899) he does not recognize differences between observation
Observation
Observation is either an activity of a living being, such as a human, consisting of receiving knowledge of the outside world through the senses, or the recording of data using scientific instruments. The term may also refer to any data collected during this activity...
and perception
Perception
Perception is the process of attaining awareness or understanding of the environment by organizing and interpreting sensory information. All perception involves signals in the nervous system, which in turn result from physical stimulation of the sense organs...
and thus creates the beginning of a general empirical, supradisciplinary (yet not supernatural) science. In his time of mostly physicalistic view, the starting point of Bogdanov's investigation, was 'organization', as an expedient unity
Henosis
Henosis is the word for "oneness," "union," or "unity" in classical Greek, and is spelled identically in modern Greek where "Enosis" is particulary connected with the modern political "Unity" movement to unify Greece and Cyprus....
. Indeed it meant the cradle of Systems Theory
Systems theory
Systems theory is the transdisciplinary study of systems in general, with the goal of elucidating principles that can be applied to all types of systems at all nesting levels in all fields of research...
and Holism
Holism
Holism is the idea that all the properties of a given system cannot be determined or explained by its component parts alone...
.
The "whole" in Tectology, the laws of integrity were derived from biological rather than the physicalistic view of the world. Regarding the three scientific cycles which comprise the basis of Tectology (mathematical, physico-biological, and natural-philosophical), it is from the physico-biological cycle that the central concepts have been taken and universalized.
Starting point in A. Bogdanov's Universal Science of Organization - Tectology (1913-1922) was that nature has a general, organized character, with one set of laws of organization for all objects. Contained is an internal development of the complex units, as implied by Simona Poustilnik
Simona Poustilnik
Simona Poustilnik is a Russian biologist and philosopher, historian of science, also science journalist. Major research in the area of Bogdanov's Tectology, especially biological aspects, discusses Darwin's influence on Bogdanov's thought. Bogdanov's Tectology was a precursor of Systems theory....
's "macro-paradigm", which induces synergistic consequences into an adaptive assembling phenomenon (1995). Bogdanov's visionary view of nature was an 'organization' with an interconnection into systems. The notions in A. Bogdanov's Tectology outlined the concepts and concerns of Complexity Theory
Complex systems
Complex systems present problems in mathematical modelling.The equations from which complex system models are developed generally derive from statistical physics, information theory and non-linear dynamics, and represent organized but unpredictable behaviors of systems of nature that are considered...
by a full 50 years in advance of the chaos
Chaos theory
Chaos theory is a field of study in mathematics, with applications in several disciplines including physics, economics, biology, and philosophy. Chaos theory studies the behavior of dynamical systems that are highly sensitive to initial conditions, an effect which is popularly referred to as the...
and fractal
Fractal
A fractal has been defined as "a rough or fragmented geometric shape that can be split into parts, each of which is a reduced-size copy of the whole," a property called self-similarity...
mathematics.
Works
Alexander Bogdanov wrote several works about Tectology:- 1901, Poznanie s Istoricheskoi Tochki Zreniya (Knowledge from a Historical Viewpoint), St. Petersburg, 1901.
- 1904, Empiriomonizm: Stat'i po Filosofii (Empiriomonism: Articles on Philosophy) in 3 volumes, Moscow, 1904-1906
- 1912, Filosofiya Zhivogo Opyta: Populiarnye Ocherki (Philosophy of Living Experience: Popular Essays), St. Petersburg, 1912
- 1922 Tektologiya: Vseobschaya Organizatsionnaya Nauka in 3 volumes, Berlin and Petrograd-Moscow, 1922.
- 1980, English translation as Essays in Tektology: The General Science of Organization, trans. George Gorelik, Seaside, CA, Intersystems Publications, 1980.
Further reading
- John Biggart, Georgii Gloveli, Avraham Yassour. Bogdanov and his Work. A guide to the published and unpublished works of Alexander A. Bogdanov (Malinovsky) 1873-1928, Aldershot, Ashgate, 1998, ISBN 1-85972-623-2
- John Biggart, Peter Dudley, Francis King, Aldershot, Ashgate (eds.), Alexander Bogdanov and the Origins of Systems Thinking in Russia, 1998, ISBN 1-85972-678-X
- Stuart Brown. Biographical Dictionary of Twentieth-Century Philosophers, London, Routledge, 2002 (first published in 1996), ISBN 0-415-06043-5
- Peter Dudley, Bogdanov's Tektology (1st Engl transl), Centre for Systems Studies, University of HullUniversity of HullThe University of Hull, known informally as Hull University, is an English university, founded in 1927, located in Hull, a city in the East Riding of Yorkshire...
, Hull, UK, 1996 - Peter Dudley, Simona Pustylnik. Reading The Tektology: provisional findings, postulates and research directions, Centre for Systems Studies, University of Hull, Hull, UK, 1995
- George Gorelick, Bogdanov's Tektology: Naure, Development and Influences, in: Studies in Soviet Thought (1983), Vol. 26, pp. 37-57.
- Simona Pustylnik, "Biological Ideas of Bogdanov's Tektology" presented at the Int'l Conf.: Origins of Organization Theory in Russia and the Soviet Union, University of East Anglia (Norwich), Jan. 8-11, 1995
See also
- Systems theorySystems theorySystems theory is the transdisciplinary study of systems in general, with the goal of elucidating principles that can be applied to all types of systems at all nesting levels in all fields of research...
- Systems philosophySystems PhilosophySystems philosophy is the study of the development of systems, with an emphasis on design and root cause analysis. Systems philosophy is a form of systems thinking....
- Systems thinkingSystems thinkingSystems thinking is the process of understanding how things influence one another within a whole. In nature, systems thinking examples include ecosystems in which various elements such as air, water, movement, plants, and animals work together to survive or perish...
- Bertalanffy
- Gregory BatesonGregory BatesonGregory Bateson was an English anthropologist, social scientist, linguist, visual anthropologist, semiotician and cyberneticist whose work intersected that of many other fields. He had a natural ability to recognize order and pattern in the universe...
External links
- "Bogdanov and His Work: A Guide to the Published and Unpublished Works of Alexander A. Bogdanov (Malinovsky) 1873-1928": Reference covering Bogdanov's work,
- Alexander Bogdanov
- About tectology, John A. Mikes, prepared for ICCS [International Conference on Complex Systems, New England Complex Systems Inst. Sept.21-27,1997 Nashua NH USA)
- Red Hamlet