Mapping the Varieties of Second-Order Cybernetics

Constructivist Foundations 11 (3):443-454 (2016)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

Context: Although second-order cybernetics was proposed as a new way of cybernetic investigations around 1970, its general status and its modus operandi are still far from obvious. Problem: We want to provide a new perspective on the scope and the currently available potential of second-order cybernetics within today’s science landscapes. Method: We invited a group of scholars who have produced foundational work on second-order cybernetics in recent years, and organized an open call for new approaches to second-order cybernetics. The accepted contributions are discussed and mapped. We also investigate the relations between second-order cybernetics and second-order science. Results: We present a coherent outlook on the scope of second-order cybernetics today, identify a general methodology of science and show that second-order cybernetics can be used in a large number of disciplines that go well beyond purely scientific domains. These results are based on a new epistemic mode “from within,” which can be traced back directly to von Foerster. We also arrived at the conclusion that from its early years onwards second-order cybernetics was developed in two different ways, so that second-order cybernetics and second-order science operate in different domains. Implications: Both the coherent perspective of the scope of second-order cybernetics with a new five-part agenda and the outline for a general methodology of science based on a new epistemic mode that was created within and for second-order cybernetics demonstrate the growing importance of reflexivity in science, which, so far, has not been widely recognized.

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 93,642

External links

  • This entry has no external links. Add one.
Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Analytics

Added to PP
2016-07-15

Downloads
18 (#860,222)

6 months
18 (#152,778)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author Profiles

Kitty Muller
Pikes Peak Community Colleges
Alexander Riegler
Vrije Universiteit Brussel

Citations of this work

Second-Order Science and Policy.Anthony Hodgson & Graham Leicester - 2017 - World Futures 73 (3):119-178.

Add more citations

References found in this work

No references found.

Add more references