BCSSS

21st European Meeting on Cybernetics and Systems Research held by Bertalanffy Center – Young Scientist Award granted for the first time – Edgar Morin honoured

wh — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 07:34:59 +0000

Please, follow! Click on the image! (photo: emcsr)

From 10 to 13 April 2012 the Campus of the University of Vienna was the venue of the EMCSR 2012. 168 academics and practitioners attended the conference. The focus was on the self-reflection of the field against the background of urgent global challenges.

The Ludwig von Bertalanffy Young Scientist Award was donated for the first time.

Jessica Dylan Foley received the prize of € 1.000 from the BCSSS (left: Wolfgang Hofkirchner; middle ground: Alexander Laszlo; photo: emcsr)

Edgar Morin was awarded with a prize for his outstanding contributions to complexity thinking.

The award ceremony. Edgar Morin showing the Ludwig von Bertalanffy Award in Complexity Thinking together with the certificate (next to him: the laudator, Rainer E. Zimmermann, and Wolfgang Hofkirchner; photo: emcsr)

Bertalanffy Center to award Edgar Morin

wh — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 09:36:18 +0000

In recognition of his outstanding contributions to the field of complexity thinking, the Bertalanffy Center will award a prize to Edgar Morin. The award ceremony will take place at the forthcoming European Meeting on Cybernetics and Systems Research, on 10th of April 2012, 20:00, in Lecture Hall B at the Campus of the University of Vienna, Spitalgasse 2, 1090 Vienna (entrance free). Edgar Morin will hold a keynote on “Complex thinking for a complex world – About reductionism, disjunction and systemism”.

Edgar Morin is a widely recognised French philosopher and sociologist. His most recent publication is “Le chemin de l’espérance”/”El camino de la esperanza”/”Wege der Hoffnung” written together with Stéphane Hessel. He is 91 years old. Morin is one of the first system philosophers. His six-volumes work “La Méthode” is in the process of being translated into German.

The laudatio will be given by Rainer E. Zimmermann.

The award (photo: ©www.3dandmore.at)

The BCSSS will award the “Ludwig von Bertalanffy Award in Complexity Thinking” for the first time.

The Morphogenetic Project and Self-Organisation

wh — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 09:43:48 +0000

Margaret Archer, the Director of the Centre for Social Ontology at the École Polytechnique Fédéral de Lausanne, is the leader of the so-called Morphogenetic project. The morphogenetic approach is a social theory attempt to understand change in society in the perspective of critical realism (follow that link: http://cdh.epfl.ch/page-37105-en.html). The usage of the term “morphogenesis” goes back to Walter Buckley who introduced General System Theory concepts into sociology. Margaret Archer invited Wolfgang Hofkirchner to present a system-theoretical view (follow that link: http://www.hofkirchner.uti.at/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/epfl2012-2.mov). Many overlappings could be identified. Further co-operation is intended. The contributions to the workshop Hofkirchner attended are in the process of being re-worked to enhance the unity of an envisaged book publication.

Post-doc researcher at the Centre for Social Ontology Kate Forbes-Pitt leading the general discussion at the workshop on 14th of January 2012 (photo: Wolfgang Hofkirchner). The blackboard shows the agenda of contested concepts

Systems experts gathered in Vienna: Systems thinking – what’s it for?

wh — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 13:05:58 +0000

On 10 November 2011 the Bertalanffy Center was host of 20 international systems theorists and practitioners, among them leading representatives of systems movement organisations like the President of the International Academy for Systems and Cybernetic Sciences (IASCYS), Matjaz Mulej; the representative of the European Union for Systemics (UES/EUS), Pierre Bricage; the Director-General of the World Association of Systems and Cybernetics (WOSC), Raul Espejo; the representative of the recently founded Giordano Bruno GlobalShift University, Alexander Laszlo, to name but a few.

They met with the BCSSS board members and other members of the Center to start the discussion on what systems thinking is for in the age of global challenges, which belongs to the Center’s core activities. This gathering was the first international meeting the Center could organise.

One focus was on how academic contributions to the systems movement can be revisited. Since Ludwig von Bertalanffy’s birthday could be celebrated this year for the 110th time, it goes without saying that the discussion revolved around the elaboration and the impact of General System Theory.

BCSSS Symposium “Systems thinking: what’s it for?” (photo: Günther Ossimitz)

Death mask donated

wh — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 16:43:30 +0000

At the symposium “Systems thinking: what’s it for?”, organised by the Center on the occasion of Ludwig von Bertalanffy’s 110th anniversary of his birthday with international experts on 10 November 2011 in Vienna, the death mask of Ludwig von Bertalanffy was handed on to the Center. The last owner of the death mask was Gisèle Bertalanffy, the widow of Felix Bertalanffy. Gisèle Bertalanffy decided to donate the mask to the Center. Therewith, the mask has left Canada and has crossed the border to Austria where Ludwig von Bertalanffy was born and where he was active until 1947.

The death mask of Ludwig von Bertalanffy with which the Center was presented by Michel Saint-Germain, Professor emeritus at the Université d’Ottawa (photo: Günther Ossimitz)

New documents for the archive received

wh — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 09:21:16 +0000

Gisèle Bertalanffy donated another five boxes with manuscripts, lecture transcripts, photos, tapes, super 8 films, and else obtaining to the legacy of Ludwig von Bertalanffy to our center. At first sight writings appeared the existence of which we even had not have knowledge of. All records will be professionally archived before being made available to the public.

Unpacking the boxes. From the left: Manfred Drack, Gerd Müller, Wolfgang Hofkirchner, Birgit Zehetmayer (photo: Gerd Müller)

One of the files (photo: Gerd Müller)

Gisèle Bertalanffy (photo: Michel Saint-Germain)

Systems Movement Organisations Agree on Strengthening Cooperation

wh — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 08:52:56 +0000

Representatives of five international organisations met on the occasion of the 8ème Congrès International de l’Union Européenne de Systemique in Brussels from 20 to 22 October:

• Andrée Piecq, President of the European Union for Systemics (UES)

• Gerhard Chroust, Secretary General of the International Federation for Systems Research (IFSR)

• Raúl Espejo, Director-General of the World Organisation of Systems and Cybernetics (WOSC)

• Matjaz Mulej, President of the International Academy of Systems and Cybernetic Sciences (IASCYS)

• Pierre Bricage, Secretary General of IASCYS

• Wolfgang Hofkirchner, President of the Bertalanffy Center for the Study of Systems Science (BCSSS)

In the first of two meetings instigated by Wolfgang Hofkirchner and Matjaz Mulej and organised by Pierre Bricage, Wolfgang Hofkirchner presented his ideas about the next European Meetings on Cybernetics and Systems Research (EMCSR) which the BCSSS under his chairmanship will organise in April 2012. He invited all organisations to contribute to he success of the conference. The IFSR committed to support the Conference in several ways. The WOSC is already partner of the event.

It was also agreed to make efforts to coordinate information about systemic conferences and to organise a collection of abstracts of most/all published systemic articles at least from systemic journals. This collection could possibly be done automatically. It was felt that the IASCYS could be the appropriate neutral platform for the collection of such information and for making it available to the systems community. The IFSR offered the use of its web-site to host such information.

It was recognised that language is a problem also in the systems community. UES caters mainly to French speaking scientists, while the IFSR has a large majority of English speaking associations. It was also recognised that here is a strong community of Spanish-speaking systemists, especially in Latin America. Furthermore it is also of high importance to take into account the large systems communities in China and Japan.

The second meeting discussed the role of the IASCYS, originally founded by the IFSR, in view of the newly established cooperation with UES and WOSC. It was the common consensus that the nomination procedure for the IASCYS should better reflect the new cooperation.

With respect to systems conferences (there are supposedly some 40 every year) the role of world-wide conferences was discussed. It was observed that the bi-annual EMCSR conferences, the three-annual conferences of both UES and WOSC together with some other could complement one another by coordinating them and sharing some topics and ideas. This would provide to the general audiences the feeling of a certain continuity between these various conferences.

“Systems in Biology” Kick-off meeting

mdrack — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 16:37:24 +0000

On 27. and 28.10.2011 the kick-off meeting of the research project Systems in Biology – How can early theoretical approaches contribute to current versions of Systems Biology? was held at the Department of Theoretical Biology / University of Vienna.

The aim of the research project — which is performed in co-operation with the BCSSS — is to compare earlier and modern system approaches in biology in order to establish a basis for integration. In the kick-off meeting the components for such an integration were explored. Accordingly, the major issues and ideas of earlier and recent accounts were discussed in detail. For comparison of the different system approaches, the primary goal was to set up lists of aims, motivations, domains, problems, open questions, concepts, methods, and assumptions.

Participants: Tobias Breidenmoser (University of Rostock), Manfred Drack (University of Vienna), Wolfgang Hofkirchner (Vienna University of Technology), Jan-Hendrik Hofmeyr (Stellenbosch University), Gerd Müller (University of Vienna), Carlos Sonnenschein (Tufts University), Ana Soto (Tufts University), Anders Strand (University of Oslo), Olaf Wolkenhauer (University of Rostock).

“Ludwig von Bertalanffy 110″ Events

wh — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 07:15:35 +0000

The BCSSS has organised two events on the occasion of the anniversary of Ludwig von Bertalanffy’s birthday.

• Public Lecture

David Pouvreau, author of “The Dialectical Tragedy of the Concept of Wholeness – Ludwig von Bertalanffy’s Biography Revisited” (2009), speaks about

General systemology as founded and developed by Ludwig von Bertalanffy
An hermeneutical system

on Wednesday, 9 November 2011, 18.00 c.t.,

in the historical lecture hall used by Ludwig von Bertalanffy himself:

Lecture Hall 42 (last floor, staircase 7, entrance at the arcade in the Arcade Court), Main Building, University of Vienna, Dr.-Karl-Lueger-Ring 1, 1010 Vienna

• Symposium
Systems thinking: what’s it for?

Ten years after BAC 2001 – Bertalanffy’s Anniversary Conference – which was organised by Wolfgang Hofkirchner and Elohim Jiménez-López at the Vienna University of Technology and which prepared the ground for the Bertalanffy Center for the Study of Systems Science, the BCSSS invited distinguished systems theorists to reflect on the development of systems theory – its history and future.

Today, multiple crises challenge the sustainable development of civilised life on earth. What are the foundations of systems thinking that are required for succesfully intervening in the course of evolution of humanity?

Programme

• Presentations by

Elohim Jiménez-López, Vice-President, BCSSS (Austria)
Renewed Bertalanffian systems may overcome the perversity of the civilized (?) homosphere generated by the crisis of human values

Alexander László, Giordano Bruno Globalshift University (USA)
The Humanistic Bases of Systems Thinking

Magnus Ramage, The Open University, Milton Keynes (UK)
Bertalanffy amid the seven schools: multiple traditions within systems thinking

Helena Knyazeva, Russian Academy of Sciences (Russia)
The Contribution of the Russian Scientific Schools to the Development of Systems Thinking

Rainer E. Zimmermann, Munich University of Applied Sciences (Germany)
Ground & Existence Revisited: On Morin’s Approach to Systems

Joseph Brenner, International Center for Transdisciplinary Research (Switzerland)
Of Logic and Systems: Ludwig von Bertalanffy and Stéphane Lupasco

Birgit Zehetmayer, University of Vienna (Austria)
Bertalanffy’s anthropological vision today

Matjaž Mulej, President, International Academy for Systems and Cybernetic Sciences (Slovenia)
Promotion of systemic/cybernetic behavior by ISO 26000 on social responsibility

• Discussion involving (alongside the presenters)

Manfred Blachfellner, Internationaler Controller Verein (Austria)
Stefan Blachfellner, B original Business and Communication Design (Austria)
Rainer Born, Johannes Kepler University of Linz (Austria)
Ockie Bosch, The University of Queensland (Australia)
Pierre Bricage, General Secretary, International Academy for Systems and Cybernetic Sciences (France)
John Collier, University of Kwa-Zulu Natal (South Africa)
Yagmur Denizhan, Boğaziçi University (Turkey)
José María Díaz Nafría, University of León (Spain)
Iryna Dobronravova, Kiev Shevchenko National University (Ukraine)
Raúl Espejo, Director-General, World Organisation of Systems and Cybernetics (UK)
Manfred Füllsack, University of Vienna (Austria)
Andreas Hieronymi, Training, Beratung und Coaching (Switzerland)
Helmut Löckenhoff, independent (Germany)
David Pouvreau, École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (France)
John Raven, independent (UK)
Michel Saint-Germain, Université d’Ottawa (Canada)
Pamela Vesterby, independent (USA)
Vince Vesterby, independent (USA)

as well as BCSSS Board Members and other members of the Center

• Video: Interview with Gisèle Bertalanffy (interviewer: Michel Saint-Germain)

Date

10 November 2011, 9.00- (open end)

Venue

Lounge, Weingut am Reisenberg, Oberer Reisenbergweg 15, 1190 Wien (two coffee breaks, lunch and dinner as well as refreshments included): http://www.weingutamreisenberg.at/

Bus transfer

Will be organised from and to the Hotel de France, Schottenring 3, 1010 Wien (departure at the hotel at 8.30, departure from the venue at 22.00).

Registration

The symposium open to members of the Center is fully booked and cannot offer any more places.

European Meetings on Cybernetics and Systems Research (EMCSR) to be organised by the Bertalanffy Center

wh — Sat, 08 Oct 2011 07:29:11 +0000

Robert Trappl, Professor emeritus at the Department of Medical Cybernetics and Artificial Intelligence at the Medical University of Vienna, was the convenor and chief organiser of the EMCSR held in Vienna every 2 years since 1972. After 20 conferences he handed over the chair to Wolfgang Hofkirchner who stepped in on behalf of the BCSSS.

A task force was built up including besides the President, the Secretary and the Treasurer of the Center, Günther Ossimitz and Franz Ofner. The next conference will be held, as always, in the week after Easter according to the Austrian calendar. A new website was set up. See emcsr.net.