Collective Beings [Paperback]

This book offers an overview on the background to systemics. It introduces the concept of Collective Being as a Multiple System established by processes of emergence and self-organization of the same agents simultaneously or dynamically interacting in different ways. The principles underlying this approach are grounded on the theoretical role of the observer. This view allows to model in a more suitable way complex systems, such as in physics, biology and economics.

Microscopic models 226 The intrinsic limitations of the theory of phase transitions 229 5. 3 Quantum Field Theory 230 5. 4 Spontaneous Symmetry Breaking 239 5. 5 Non-ideal models of emergence 249 5. 5. 1 Neural networks 250 5. 5. 2 Cellular Automata 261 5. 5. 3 Artificial Life 265 5. 6 The role of noise 273 5. 7 The relationships between traditional and non-traditional models 279 Chapter 6. The Role of Ergodicity 291 6. 1 Some definitions related to ergodicity 293 6. 1. 1 Ergodic 293 6. 1. 2 Disciplinary definitions 293 6. 2 Ergodicity and stationarity 300 6. 3 Ergodicity in Collective Beings 302 6. 4 Emergence, Collective Beings, and Ergodicity 306 6. 5 Further considerations 309 6. 6 Some remarks and possible lines of research 313 Chapter 7. Applications to Social Systems (1): growth, development, sustainable development and ethics 321 7. 1 Growth, Development and Sustainable Development 323 7. 1. 1 Representing Growth 324 7. 1. 2 Development 326 7. 1. 3 Managing for development 334 7. 2 Ethics 336 7. 2. 1 Ethics and Quality 340 7. 2. 2 Effectiveness and advantages of Ethics 342 7. 2. 3 Ethics for quality and effectiveness 343 7. 2. 4 Ethics and Globalization 346 viii Contents Chapter 8. Applications to Social Systems (2): systems archetypes, virtual systems, knowledge management, organizational learning, industrial districts 353 8. 1 Systems archetypes and collective beings 353 8. 2 Virtual systems 359 8. 2.The Background to Systemics.- Generalizing Systemics and the Role of the ObselC!