I. Prigogine. Synergetic paradigm. Synergetics as a new worldview: dialogue with and. Prigozhin Prigozhin synergetics
100 RUR bonus for first order
Select job type Graduate work Coursework Abstract Master's thesis Report on practice Article Report Review Test Monograph Problem solving Business plan Answers to questions Creative work Essay Drawing Essays Translation Presentations Typing Other Increasing the uniqueness of the text Master's thesis Laboratory work Online help
Find out the price
Synergetics is a complex of sciences that study the process of self-organization of systems and their components: subsystems. Their origin, maintenance, stability and decay.
The synergetic theory, which has now gained recognition in world science, is a new conceptual and analytical approach to the world, which is characterized by fundamental methodological content. Synergetic methodology makes it possible to search for principles of self-organization of complex systems, patterns of their evolution and interaction. It is based on the understanding of the irreversibility of time introduced by P., which is associated with the rejection of the Newtonian approach to time as a reversible phenomenon and with a radical rethinking of the concept of entropy. According to the synergetic approach, some systems degenerate in the process of evolution, others develop in an ascending line. The irreversibility of a system begins when the complexity of the evolving system exceeds a certain threshold. This approach to evolution allows biology and physics to find many analytical points of contact.
Basic postulates:
1. Everything that exists is nothing more than an infinite number of open nonlinear systems at different levels of organization. Systems develop from simple to complex, from adaptive to evolving.
2. The connection between different systems can be defined as chaos.
3. When several systems come together, a new one emerges. Moreover, the new one cannot be reduced to the sum of its constituent parts.
4. when systems move from a state of chaos to a state of order, they behave in the same way.
5. Developing systems are always open and exchange energy with the environment.
6. However, if the system becomes nonequilibrium, it periodically falls into the so-called “bifurcation points”, where its further fate becomes unpredictable and completely dependent on any random factors (up to and including destruction).
Synergetics arose at the end of the 20th century and has now become a very popular science. Its principles and concepts have penetrated into a wide range of scientific fields: biology and physics, history and economics. The natural scientific achievements of synergetics are indisputable. We will try to answer how reliable its philosophical foundations are.
Experiments that led to the emergence of synergetics
In 1900, French physicist Henri Benard made an amazing discovery. He heated liquid oil from below. The lower layers, hotter and therefore less dense, sought to displace the upper layers and take their place (as happens in humans). However, the viscosity of the oil created an obstacle for them, and with a small temperature difference between the upper and lower layers, heat transfer was ensured only by thermal conductivity. But when the temperature difference reached a critical value, a convective flow appeared [convection is the transfer of heat in a liquid or gas by flows of matter]. It had the appearance of cells resembling a honeycomb, inside which the liquid tended upward and fell downward at the edges. Billions of billions of molecules behaved in concert! The ordered structures are called Bénard cells.
In 1951, the Soviet chemist Boris Pavlovich Belousov discovered that the oxidation reaction of potassium bromate with malonic acid in an acidic medium in the presence of certain catalysts becomes self-oscillating: the color of the solution changes strictly periodically. In particular, when certain substances interact, a ruby solution turns blue, only to soon become ruby again. And such a play of color can last for hours. Ten years later, the reaction mechanism was explained by the Soviet scientist Anatoly Markovich Zhabotinsky. True, it was a scientific, but not a philosophical explanation.
Science has accumulated many examples of phenomena similar to Benard cells and the Belousov-Zhabotinsky reaction, in which, under certain conditions, systems can transition from chaos to order. This phenomenon is called self-organization.
The founders of the new science were the German theoretical physicist Hermann Haken, the Belgian physicist and chemist of Russian origin Ilya Romanovich Prigozhin and other scientists.
Philosophical achievements of synergetics
Scientists working in the field of synergetics have achieved outstanding, indisputable achievements. They built many mathematical models. Synergetics has become a methodology of modern natural science. Its basics were succinctly outlined by Hermann Haken.
“I would choose key provisions that reveal the essence of synergy.
1. The systems under study consist of several or many identical or dissimilar parts that interact with each other.
2. These systems are nonlinear.
3. When considering physical, chemical and biological systems, we are talking about open systems that are far from thermal equilibrium.
4. These systems are subject to internal and external vibrations.
5. Systems may become unstable.
6. Qualitative changes are taking place.
7. Emergent new qualities are discovered in these systems.
[Emergence is the presence of special properties in a system that are not inherent in its elements. For example, a car consists of a body, an engine, wheels and many other elements. But neither of them can be driven on the road separately. Such a movement can only be performed on a machine, which is an integral system - a set of elements].
8. Spatial, temporal, space-time or functional structures emerge.
9. Structures can be ordered or chaotic.
10. In many cases, mathematization is possible.”
[Synergetics is 30 years old. Interview with Professor Hermann Haken. // Questions of Philosophy, 2000, no. 3. P. 55].
Synergetics has made the most important philosophical conclusions. Some of them can be stated in the words of the representatives of this science themselves.
“The data of synergetics shed new light on the principle of the universal connection of phenomena, highlighting its information and communication side...” [Shcherbakov A.S. Self-organization of matter in inanimate nature. Philosophical aspects of synergetics. M.: Moscow University Publishing House, 1990. P. 102 – 103].
“... synergetics connects all the pathos of the universality of the phenomenon of self-organization with the idea of attribution of information, with the understanding of it as a universal organizational and constructive principle, organically woven into the process of movement of matter as a whole.” [Ibid. P. 102].
“...in an unstable nonequilibrium state, small impacts can lead to large consequences.” [Delokarov K. Kh. System paradigm of modern science and synergetics. // Social Sciences and Modernity. 2000, No. 6. P. 111].
The number of important philosophical ideas expressed by synergetics scientists can be multiplied.
The most important philosophical conclusion of synergetics
However, one of the most important philosophical conclusions of synergetics may be questionable, especially for a person prone to mystical thinking: under certain conditions, chaos gives birth to order. This conclusion can be best stated by the proponents of synergetics themselves.
“...chaos has...the creative power (ability) to give birth new order" [Bransky V.P. Social synergetics as a postmodern philosophy of history. Social sciences and modernity. 1999, No. 6. P. 118].
“...it is significant that from a synergetic point of view, the birth of a new order from chaos is not forced by some external (in relation to a given reality) force, but has a spontaneous character. That is why synergetics is a theory of self-organization (and not organization).” [Ibid].
“Imbalance is what gives rise to “order out of chaos.” [Prigozhin I., Stengers I. Order out of chaos. M.: “Progress”, 1986. P. 357].
So, both modern official science, thoroughly saturated with materialism and rationalism, and synergetics as its component, paint a wonderful picture. Chaos is not a living, thinking being, but a dead, unreasonable formation. But from it order is born by itself. Billions of billions of particles, which in modern official science are considered devoid of the slightest fraction of life and intelligence, behave as if they were alive, intelligent, capable of understanding and executing commands.
Some scientists - supporters of materialism and rationalism - would like to crush our dissatisfaction with scientific arguments. Their objections might be: “Science does not accept statements that are not substantiated theoretically and experimentally. Can you prove the existence of a conductor who controls the movement of myriads of particles, provide an image of it, prove the manifestations of life and intelligence of particles, show how commands are given and executed? You can not? This means that all the talk about this is frivolous. Only materialistic, rationalistic science can draw the only correct conclusion: order is born from chaos by itself, without external rational influence.”
But let’s see on what foundation modern materialist scientists, rationalist scientists, for example, representatives of synergetics build their reasoning.
“There is another quite obvious problem: since the world has not been built by anyone, we are faced with the need to give a description of its smallest “bricks” (i.e., the microscopic structure of the world) that would explain the process of self-assembly.” [Prigozhin I., Stengers I. Order out of chaos. M.: “Progress”, 1986. P. 47 ‒ 48].
What is this if not a philosophical principle that is taken for granted and is the philosophical basis of synergetics?
The number of similar examples can be multiplied. We see that in science, not only scientific but also philosophical principles play a significant role, first of all, the principles of the theory of knowledge, which are impossible to prove or disprove. We can only provide some justification for them. Unfortunately, there are many scientists who ignore philosophy.
From the point of view of modern official science, what is accepted on faith does not exist and should not be taken into account. This is the verdict. It has the status of a principle that is of fundamental importance and can be given a name.
The principle of inattention. Statements that cannot be proven theoretically or substantiated experimentally should not be taken into account.
Enriching science with mysticism
The idea of dead but creative chaos can be taken to the point of absurdity.
“Under certain conditions, inanimate puppets can sing and dance. Don't believe me? Come to the puppet theater at a certain time and see for yourself. True, evil tongues talk about some mythical threads, supposedly tied to the arms and legs, about some kind of puppeteer. But none of this is visible, it is impossible to prove and therefore should not be recognized.”
To see the threads and the puppeteer, you need to come closer and raise your head higher. In order to sense with spiritual eyes living particles possessing elementary knowledge and will, to hear the playing of their orchestra, to see the accompanists and conductor, one should enrich one’s own mind with mystical knowledge and abilities. One should believe those greatest and most honest mystics who, in the name of love for God, despised transitory material benefits, for which they were awarded the highest Knowledge.
Postulate of management
The principle of inattention is the iron curtain separating science and religious, mystical teachings. And without them, some scientific conclusions are absurd: chaos gives birth to order, life arises through spontaneous complication chemical substances, solar system arose through the self-organization of a gas and dust cloud, etc., etc. This absurdity must be countered by the opposite principle. It can be called the principle of management. It is one of the foundations of the Concept Public Safety and, like any principle, unprovable:
Management principle. All processes in the universe are controlled .
[Cm. Petrov K.P. Secrets of managing humanity. T. 1. M.: Academy of Management, 2009. P. 275].
If we recognize the truth of this principle, then a completely different picture is drawn than in synergetics. Billions of billions of molecules possessing elementary intelligence and will in Benard cells, in the Belousov-Zhabotinsky reaction and in general in any processes of “self-organization” are controlled by living beings. They form a management hierarchy. For most people in our age of dominance of materialism and rationalism, these creatures are invisible. But those who strive to enrich their minds with mystical knowledge are able to see them with “spiritual eyes.” Those who live a particularly righteous life, forget about earthly goods and tirelessly improve their meditative abilities for many years, can see them with their own eyes. Science should use their knowledge and experience, and not reject and despise them.
Solid philosophical foundation
So, either we, without proof, on faith, accept the principle of inattention, and then we admit that chaos gives birth to order, that everything in this world improves by itself. Or, without proof, we admit the truth of the principle of control, and then we come to the belief that invisible beings control the Universe. Their pyramid rests on the elemental spirits and is crowned by the Lord God. There is no third.
This alternative can be expressed differently. At the basis of philosophical teachings and scientific theories, among other fundamental provisions, one can put either the principle of rationalism or the principle of harmony of faith and reason. The principle of rationalism states that with the help of reason alone, without relying on faith, one can achieve reliable knowledge. But it refutes itself, since it cannot be justified with the help of reason alone, in other words, it is taken on faith. But the principle of harmony of faith and reason does not refute itself; it is a much more solid foundation for philosophy and science.
It is curious that in Everyday life people tend to solve problems on their own and do not rely on “self-organization” or luck. They themselves put things in order in the house, and no one hopes that it will settle itself. But in scientific theory, many are ready to admit the existence of processes that can occur with an insignificant degree of probability, for example, the self-organization of life from non-living chemicals. Why? Perhaps someone is encouraging them to do this? Perhaps trust in synergetics in its modern form is beneficial to someone? To answer this question, let's compare two points of view.
The October Revolution from the point of view of synergetics
and the Concept of Public Safety
Bifurcation is the most important concept of synergetics. This is such an unstable state of the system, from which it can only be brought out by one of several possible development paths. A classic example is a knight at a crossroads reading prophetic words on a stone.
“Transition through a bifurcation is as random a process as tossing a coin.” [Prigozhin I., Stengers I. Order out of chaos. M.: “Progress”, 1986. P. 237].
This is what synergetics teaches. It is tempting to use such understanding to explain historical events. For example, in 1917 Russia found itself at a bifurcation point. It could have remained the Romanov Empire. A military dictatorship or a democratic republic were possible. But Fortune smiled on the proletarian revolution. [Fortune is the ancient Roman goddess of luck].
The Concept of Public Safety explains the same events in a completely different way. For decades, the global financial mafia has been conducting a “weak maneuver” - a slow, unnoticeable preparation for a powerful blow against Russia. This “strong maneuver” was carried out in 1917, when the Bolsheviks carried out a proletarian revolution with bankers’ money. Many of them, including Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, sincerely believed that they were working for the benefit of Russia. In fact, they were controlled by Western puppeteers, without even suspecting it. But fortunately one wise statesman I saw their secret threads. He seized control from the Trotskyists and brought Russia to the forefront of civilization, for which he was poisoned. His name was Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin.
So who benefits from presenting events as a game of chance?
A future holistic science worthy of the ancient one
Synergetics in its modern form is devoid of a mystical component. But it lay in ancient science, which painted a holistic picture of the world and did not separate science from religion, reason from mysticism.
“Lord Keynes, who played a decisive role in collecting Newton’s alchemical works, wrote the following words...: “Newton was not the first representative of the age of reason. He was the last of the Babylonians and Sumerians, the last great mind who looked at the visible and spiritual world with the same eyes as those who, almost ten thousand years ago, began to create our intellectual property. [Prigozhin I., Stengers I. Order out of chaos. M.: “Progress”, 1986. P. 391].
The principle of inattention is one of the foundations of modern official science. And you should get rid of it as soon as possible, just as a snake gets rid of old skin. And replace it with a new one, or rather, revive the ancient principle.
Principle of Unity. Holistic Knowledge can be achieved only on the path of the Unity of scientific theories, philosophical and religious teachings, rational and mystical knowledge.
Without such Unification, any fundamental scientific theory will be incomplete and contradictory.
Unified Knowledge is holistic Knowledge, and therefore true. It is not revealed either to science, which is separated from religion, or to religion, which declares all others false. United Knowledge is a fusion of mystical revelations, philosophical and scientific principles, concepts, reasoning, and experimental research.
Synergetics, like no other science, can bring us closer to the understanding that there is an urgent need for the Revival of the ancient, holistic, Unified Knowledge. Indeed, the gradual destruction of things seems natural. But “order emerging from chaos” is surprising. A person who is accustomed to reasoning purely rationalistically drives away all thoughts about invisible intelligent beings. He is more accustomed to accepting that it is chaos that creates order. On the contrary, a person whose thinking has a touch of mysticism, having learned about the phenomena of “self-organization”, will increase his mystical inclinations.
By mysticism we understand the belief that the truth can be revealed to some people not indirectly - with the help of signs, symbols, logical reasoning, but directly - through Revelations. Such high service to God and humanity has nothing in common with the activities of those who enrich themselves through the gullibility of uninformed people.
Plato’s statement is widely known, which can be succinctly expressed as follows: states will prosper when philosophers reign and kings philosophize. This idea can also be applied to science. The Unified Knowledge will then be achieved when philosophers engage scientific research, and scientists philosophize. Let us add: study not only rational, but also mystical philosophy.
The philosophical foundations of synergetics must be supplemented with a mystical component .
Ryltsev E.V.,
Candidate of Philosophical Sciences.Materials of the VII All-Russian Scientific and Practical Conference “A New Look at Man: Challenges of the Time.” Nizhny Tagil: NTGSPA, 2014. pp. 34 – 39.
SELF-ORGANIZATION THEORY -
In the real material world in which he lives modern man, order and chaos are observed at the same time. Chaos refers to disordered, formless structures or disordered forms of movement. For a long time it was assumed that, in accordance with the second law of thermodynamics, everything that exists in nature tends to move from an ordered state to a chaotic one. There was constant talk about the degradation of structures and other formations, about the growth of entropy, and the end of this process was supposed to be the thermal death of the Universe. IN last years researchers prove that in nature and society there is a merging of order and disorder, patterns and chaos. In human society, as in all of nature, order and disorder develop simultaneously. From initially disordered, unregulated forms of movement without special external influences ordered forms of movement and ordered structures arise. This phenomenon is called self-organization.
Both theorists and practitioners began to pay much attention to the problems of self-organization in the late 70s and early 80s. A new direction in organization theory is beginning to develop - self-organization theory, which was called “ synergetics"(the theory of joint action). This term was proposed by the German scientist G. Haken. Synergetics studies such interactions of elements of various systems that lead to the emergence of spatial, temporal and spatiotemporal structures on a macroscopic scale [9].
Synergetics is currently associated with various fields of chemistry, physics, biology, cybernetics, general systems theory and many others.
G. Haken notes that “From a more general position, we can consider that both the theory of dynamic systems and synergetics are engaged in the study of the time evolution of systems. In particular, mathematicians working in the theory of bifurcations ( bifurcation, division) note that the focus of synergetics (at least in its modern form) is on qualitative changes in the dynamic (or static) behavior of the system, in particular during bifurcations. Finally, synergetics can also be considered as part of a general systems analysis, since in both synergetics and systems analysis the main interests are general principles underlying the functioning of the system.”
In other words, the new interdisciplinary science of synergetics is based on such disciplines as the theory of disasters, system dynamics, the theory of dissipative structures and others.
Chaos theory in Lately has an increasing influence on the development of social science and on deepening mutual understanding between social scientists and representatives natural sciences.
The regime is called chaotic if the distance between two points, initially arbitrarily small, increases over time according to an exponential law.
It is very important to determine the boundaries of the chaos region. This can provide estimates of system behavior. The sensitivity of such a system allows it to be brought out of a chaotic state with the help of very small, but precise and timely influences.
One of the currently most famous developers of synergetics is the laureate Nobel Prize in chemistry Ilya Prigozhin (currently lives in Brussels).
He argues that the connections between order and disorder characterize scattered (dissipative) structures. Some of them develop towards a "chaotic goal". A “chaotic goal” represents neither a state of stability nor a regime of regular behavior. Seemingly random, uncertain wanderings occur. Therefore, according to the theory of I.I. Prigogine, in the process of evolution of two identical systems, the same conditions and reasons do not lead to the same results.
We should always remember that the world around us is a world of uncertainty. It cannot be characterized by one truth, one criterion.
I.I. Prigozhin believes that in social, economic, technical and any other systems, order can be equilibrium and nonequilibrium.
Equilibrium order is characterized by the fact that when the system is in equilibrium, its parameters are the same as the parameters of the environment. In non-equilibrium order they are different.
Non-equilibrium order exists only when energy is supplied from outside. For example, for the existence of a person as a system, the following are necessary: food, water, air, a certain temperature, humidity, etc.
Equilibrium order, complete harmony of a person with the surrounding nature occurs in a person only when he no longer needs anything, i.e. then when he died.
I.I. Prigozhin notes that when moving from equilibrium conditions to highly nonequilibrium ones, we move from the repeating and general to the unique and specific.
Social organization can be viewed similarly. Social organization is an open system, which is an example of a non-equilibrium order and also operates under conditions of uncertainty. In open systems, random deviations (fluctuations) try to bring the system out of an equilibrium state.
In real social systems, minor deviations are usually suppressed and the system remains stable. If deviations from the equilibrium position become large enough, then its state becomes unstable. As a result of positive feedback, such deviations can lead to the destruction of the existing structure and transition to a new macroscopic state.
I.I. Prigogine concludes that reversibility and hard determinism in the world around us are applicable only in simple limiting cases. Irreversibility and randomness are considered not as an exception, but as general rule. Hence, philosophical determinism in relation to social and economic systems(i.e. strict correspondence of causes and effects, impacts and results) becomes impossible, this is only a theoretical possibility. And therefore, for example, building now a “society of a bright future” in some country according to some speculative theory proposed one and a half hundred years ago is practically impossible.
To others characteristic feature social, economic and other artificial systems is nonlinearity. For many years, the principle of linearity reigned in many areas of science. The extrapolation methods with which most forecasts were made were based on this principle. Regular forecasting in socio-economic systems began in our country in the late 60s of the twentieth century and has since become widespread. Dozens of new forecasting methods have been developed and put into practice. The greatest difficulty is in forecasting the future of technologies, markets, and the profitability of new products, but such forecasting is among the most pressing tasks of managers and politicians. The decisions they make depend on a huge number of technological, economic, competitive, social, political and other factors.
When studying the behavior of nonlinear systems, it should be remembered that the system is in a state of chaos if:
under any initial conditions, the motion trajectories become aperiodic;
for arbitrarily close initial conditions, the two trajectories will become different over time.
The researchers note that such a high sensitivity to initial conditions leads to the impossibility of predicting the system (which is one of the characteristics of chaos) over large time intervals. However, probabilistic, averaged characteristics of a process or phenomenon can be predicted. Much work is being done to improve the reliability and accuracy of forecasts. However, as the punctual Japanese were the first to note, the better the methodology used takes into account the totality of factors influencing the development of the forecasted system, the more the accuracy of this forecast decreases. In our opinion, this is primarily due to the influence of linear thinking, which did not allow nonlinear ideas about complex systems.
In recent years, science has begun to take into account the property of nonlinearity of systems, and linearity is now considered only as a result of simplification and coarsening of the models used.
In the process of development of social systems, the same causes can cause similar consequences only in very limited spaces and periods of time. The rest of the time the story develops nonlinearly. The number of trends in the world community, individual social groups, parties, movements cannot be counted. Social systems constantly deviate from their prescribed behavior. In past years, in our country they tried to cut off incomprehensible, unpredictable nonlinear phenomena in the development of our society by force, in order to explain them using the methods of dialectical and historical materialism. The result is known to everyone.
Any nonlinear system is also characterized by bifurcation, i.e. bifurcation of effects from one cause. At the point of bifurcation (at the point of bifurcation of the system’s trajectory, at which it is impossible to accurately predict which trajectory it will choose in the near future), the future for complex systems is no more predictable than for historical systems.
According to I. Prigozhin, the history of the development of society is driven by events. He believes that events are not isolated phenomena. However, they cannot be calculated in advance; they are a product of the creativity of historical forces, the result of the interaction of many factors. Human history can be considered as a sequence of bifurcations, i.e. In some situations, the trajectory of society's development becomes less and less stable and breaks up into many new trajectories. It is impossible to predict which of these trajectories the development of society will follow. The slightest random deviation (fluctuation) can determine the future of humanity and the world community.
I. Prigozhin expresses confidence that we are now approaching a bifurcation point, after which humanity will find itself on one of the probable trajectories. The main factor in such an event may be the information technology boom. We are approaching the creation of a “networked society” in which people will be connected like never before. What will a network society be like - a large hierarchically organized anthill or a society of free people?
With the growth of the planet's population, the likelihood of nonlinear microfluctuations associated with individual freedom of choice increases, as the number of inhabitants increases. On the other hand, due to the fact that people are becoming increasingly united by networks, the opposite effect may appear: the categorical demands of a united collective will suppress individual freedom. In a human society connected by a single network, everything can be subordinated to collective movements, and the role of individual activity is reduced to a minimum.
In the preface to the book by I.I. Prigogine, it is noted that “Prigogine’s paradigm is especially interesting in that it focuses on aspects of reality that are most characteristic of the modern stage of accelerated social: disorder, instability, diversity, disequilibrium, nonlinear relationships in which there is little signal at the input can cause an arbitrarily strong response at the output, and temporality - increased sensitivity to the passage of time.”
The book by Prigogine I. and Stengers I. provides a description of the process of self-organization in termites during the construction of a termite mound. The first stage, the construction of the base of the termite mound, is the result of the erratic behavior of termites. Termites bring and randomly scatter lumps of earth, which they saturate with a hormone that attracts other termites. Randomly, a slightly higher density of these lumps forms in one place. The increased concentration of hormones and, accordingly, a stronger smell attracts more and more termites to this place. Thanks to positive feedback, the level of hormone concentration increases and, accordingly, the volume of soil brought by termites. This is how termite mound supports gradually appear [13].
The process of building a termite mound is an example of the phenomenon of self-organization, i.e. the emergence of a complex structure in a chaotic environment due to fluctuations (random deviations).
Another example of self-organization is traffic flows. In relatively free traffic conditions, each driver behaves more or less freely. This is an individual mode. As traffic density increases, the laws of the “collective mode” of movement come into force, in which everyone pushes the other and experiences a similar influence from the outside - drivers become more connected with each other, traffic flows begin to obey the laws of a large anthill [14].
The synergistic approach to social phenomena has gained widespread popularity in recent years. Mastering the basic principles of synergetics changes our understanding of natural and social phenomena. Nature and human society no longer appear to us in the form of a set of rigid, unchangeable systems, subsystems, elements, but in the form of processes, vortices, turbulent phenomena, dissipative (scattered) structures. This allows for a new approach to the study of social, economic and other systems, the organization of their functioning, to notice hidden patterns, to formulate fruitful hypotheses and to design new organizations [15].
The synergetic paradigm, according to I. Prigogine and.
Gers, is a new dialogue between man and nature. It also leads to a new dialogue between a person and himself and with other people. A nonlinear situation, a situation of bifurcation (multiplicity) of evolutionary paths, or a state of instability of a nonlinear environment, its sensitivity to small impacts, is associated with uncertainty and the possibility of choice. When choosing a further path, the subject focuses on one of his own, determined internal properties environment of evolutionary paths and at the same time on their value preferences. He chooses the most favorable path for himself, which can be considered as an optimistic way of mastering a nonlinear situation.
I. Prigogine writes: “... looking at today’s humanity from the perspective of the theory of nonequilibrium processes, this is what we can say for sure: globalization and the network revolution lead not only to greater connectedness of people with each other, but also to an increased role of the individual in the historical process . Just as at the point of bifurcation the behavior of one particle can greatly change the configuration of the system at the macroscopic level, a creative individual, and not faceless rebellious masses, will increasingly influence historical events at a new stage in the evolution of society” [14].
Knowledge of the basic concepts of synergetics is necessary for a modern manager to develop nonlinear intuition, without which it is currently impossible to effectively solve problems of the development of society, economics, politics, etc.
Ilya Romanovich Prigozhin
Prigogine, Ilya Romanovich (1917-2005) - Belgian physicist and philosopher of Russian origin. Winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (1977). Founder of the Brussels School of Statistical Mechanics and Physical Chemistry. Professor at the Free University of Brussels. Director of the Center for Thermodynamics and Statistical Physics at the University of Texas. Member of the Royal Belgian Academy of Sciences, Letters and Fine Arts. Foreign member of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1982). Prigogine is the author of a number of original concepts in the philosophy of science, as well as one of the founders of a new scientific direction - a system of worldview, designated as synergetics. According to the approach initiated by the research of Prigogine and his school, synergetics can be interpreted as a modern theory of self-organization, a new worldview associated with the study of the phenomena of self-organization, nonlinearity, nonequilibrium, global evolution, the study of the processes of formation of “order through chaos” (Prigogine), bifurcation changes, irreversibility time, instability as a fundamental characteristic of evolutionary processes. The problem field of synergetics, according to Prigogine, is centered around the concept of “complexity”, focusing on understanding the nature, principles of organization and evolution of the latter. Complexity is interpreted as “the occurrence of bifurcation transitions away from equilibrium and in the presence of suitable nonlinearities, the breaking of symmetry above the bifurcation point, and the formation and maintenance of macroscopic-scale correlations.” Synergetics as a worldview overcomes traditionalist ideas: about microfluctuations and accidents as insignificant factors for the construction of scientific theories; about the impossibility of a significant impact of individual effort on the course of macrosocial processes; about the need to eliminate disequilibrium, the instability of their worldviews that are adequate to the true state of affairs; about development as, in fact, a non-alternative progressive process; on the proportionality and comparability of the volumes of external control influences applied to the system with the volume of the expected result; about the exponential nature of the development of “avalanche-like” processes, etc.
Philosophical Dictionary / author's comp. S. Ya. Podoprigora, A. S. Podoprigora. - Ed. 2nd, erased - Rostov n/d: Phoenix, 2013, pp. 350-351.
Other biographical materials:
Gritsanov A.A., Mezyanaya K.N. Belgian physicist and philosopher of Russian origin ( The latest philosophical dictionary. Comp. Gritsanov A.A. Minsk, 1998).
Arshinov V.I. Belgian physical chemist ( New philosophical encyclopedia. In four volumes. / Institute of Philosophy RAS. Scientific ed. advice: V.S. Stepin, A.A. Guseinov, G.Yu. Semigin. M., Mysl, 2010).
Author of works on philosophical and methodological problems of science ( Modern Western philosophy. Encyclopedic Dictionary / Under. ed. O. Heffe, V.S. Malakhova, V.P. Filatov, with the participation of T.A. Dmitrieva. M., 2009).
Read further:
Philosophers, lovers of wisdom (biographical index).
Essays:
From existing to emerging. Time and complexity in the physical sciences. M., 1985;
(together with I. Stengers) Order from chaos. A new dialogue between man and nature. M., 1986;
(together with I. Stengers) Time, chaos, quantum. M., 1994.
Literature:
The concept of self-organization in historical perspective. M., 1994;
Arshinov V.I. Synergetics as a phenomenon of post-non-classical science. M., 1999.
KNYAZEVA E.N., KURDIUMOV S.P.
Image of an open environment
The class of systems capable of self-organization are open nonlinear systems. The openness of a system means the presence of sources and sinks, exchange of matter and energy with the environment.
The openness of the system is a necessary, but not sufficient condition for self-organization: i.e. Every self-organizing system is open, but not every open system self-organizes, builds structures. Everything depends on the mutual play, the competition of two opposite principles: the one that creates structures, increases inhomogeneities in a continuous medium, and the scattering, eroding inhomogeneities of principles of the most varied nature. The scattering principle in an inhomogeneous system can overpower, overcome the work of the source, and blur all the inhomogeneities created by it. In this mode, structures cannot arise.
But on the other hand, even in the complete absence of dissipation, an organization cannot arise spontaneously. It is necessary to understand the role of dissipation (evil) as a factor in eating away excess and therefore as a necessary element for the self-organization of the world. Dissipation in a medium with nonlinear sources plays the role of a cutter, with which the sculptor gradually but purposefully cuts off everything unnecessary from a block of stone. And since dissipative processes, scattering are, in fact, the macroscopic appearance of chaos, since chaos at the macro level is not a factor of destruction, but a force that leads to an attractor, to the tendency of self-structuring of a nonlinear environment.
Worldview meaning of the concept of nonlinearity “Nonlinearity” is a fundamental conceptual node of the new paradigm. One might even say that the new paradigm is a paradigm of nonlinearity. Therefore, it seems important to expand, among other things, the most general, worldview meaning of the concept.
Nonlinearity in mathematical sense means a certain type of mathematical equations containing the desired quantities in powers greater than 1 or coefficients depending on the properties of the medium.
Nonlinear equations can have several (more than one) qualitatively different solutions. This implies the physical meaning of nonlinearity. The set of solutions of a nonlinear equation corresponds to the set of evolution paths of the system described by these equations (nonlinear system).
Here there is a significant difference between the stated position and the position of I. Prigozhin. In the book by I. Prigogine and I. Stingers, different paths of evolution are associated primarily with bifurcations when environmental constants change. That is, in differential equations some control parameter changes, and at a certain critical value of this parameter the thermodynamic branch loses stability and at least two different directions of development arise.
The branching paths of evolution described here by I. Prigogine are well known among mathematicians, although for many this process may seem surprising. The peculiarities of the nonlinear world are that for a certain range of changes in the environment and parameters of nonlinear equations, there is no qualitative change in the picture of the process. Despite the quantitative variation of the constants, the attraction of the same attractor remains, the process slides onto the same structure, into the same mode of motion of the system. But if we have crossed a certain threshold change, exceeded the critical value of the parameters, then the mode of motion of the system changes qualitatively: it falls into the area of attraction of another attractor. The picture of the integral curves on the phase plane is qualitatively reconstructed.
The transformation becomes quite obvious. After all, changing the parameters of nonlinear equations beyond critical values, in fact, creates the opportunity to go into a different environment, into a different world. And if the environment changes qualitatively, be it the environment of physical interactions, chemical reactions, or the habitat of living organisms, then it is completely natural to expect the emergence of new opportunities: new structures, new paths of evolution, bifurcations.
In ideological terms, the idea of nonlinearity can be explicated through: the idea of multivariance, alternativeness, as they often say now, paths of evolution (we emphasize that many ways of unfolding processes are characteristic even for
· the same, unchanging open nonlinear environment);
ideas for choosing from these alternatives;
· ideas of the pace of evolution (the speed of development of processes in the environment);
· ideas of irreversibility of evolution.
Features of the nonlinearity phenomenon are as follows.
Firstly, thanks to nonlinearity, the most important principle of “expansion” of the small, or “intensification of fluctuations,” is valid. Under certain conditions (it will be shown below which ones) nonlinearity can enhance fluctuations, which means making a small difference large, with macroscopic consequences.
Secondly, certain classes of open nonlinear systems demonstrate another important property - threshold sensitivity. Below the threshold, everything decreases, is erased, forgotten, leaving no traces in nature, science, culture, and above the threshold, on the contrary, everything increases many times over.
Thirdly, nonlinearity gives rise to a kind of quantum effect of discreteness of evolutionary paths of nonlinear systems (environments). That is, in a given nonlinear medium, not any evolutionary path is possible, but only a certain spectrum of paths. The above-mentioned threshold sensitivity of certain classes of nonlinear systems, by the way, is also an indicator of quantumness.
Fourthly, nonlinearity means the possibility of unexpected, called emergent in philosophy, changes in the direction of movement of processes. The nonlinearity of the processes makes the hitherto very common extrapolation forecasts from the available ones fundamentally unreliable and insufficient. For development occurs through the randomness of choosing a path at the moment of bifurcation, and the randomness itself (such is its nature) usually does not repeat itself again.
Modes with exacerbation
Behind nonlinearity, in addition, there is an idea of the possibility of ultra-fast development of processes at certain stages. The mechanism of such development is based on nonlinear positive feedback. It’s worth saying a little more about this, because the idea of nonlinear positive feedback is generalizing for this area.
It is well known, for example, what negative feedback leads to. It has a stabilizing effect, forcing the system to return to a state of equilibrium. What does positive feedback give? At first glance, it seems that it only leads to destruction, to swinging, takes the system away from the state of equilibrium, to instability, and instability is of no interest.
In fact, now the attention of the Prigogine school and many other groups of researchers is aimed precisely at studying the unstable, changing, developing world. And this is a kind of instability. Without instability there is no development. Nonlinear positive relationship is the most important element in models of autocatalytic processes of various natures.
The study of the so-called blow-up regimes are regimes of ultra-fast growth of processes in open nonlinear media, in which characteristic quantities (for example, temperature, energy or monetary capital) increase without limit in a finite time.
The methodology of “exacerbation problems” allows us to consider from an unconventional point of view a number of classical problems of mechanics associated with the processes of compression, cumulation, cavitation, and collapse. There is reason to assume that new approaches are possible to solving problems of the collapse of rapid compression of matter, to chemical kinetics, meteorology (catastrophic phenomena in the Earth’s atmosphere), ecology (growth and extinction of biological populations), neurophysiology (modeling the propagation of signals through neural networks), epidemiology ( outbreaks of infectious diseases), the economy (phenomena of rapid economic growth), etc. In all of these tasks, positive feedback mechanisms appear to operate, leading to escalation modes.
Once again about reductionism
Prigogine argues that science today is not reductionist. Of course, reductionism is a path of knowledge that raises doubts and fears. It is necessary to avoid rigid formalism or mechanism, a direct reduction of everything to the laws of the simplest formations of nature. But modern knowledge is increasingly based on the conscious application of highly abstract models that reflect the abstract properties of open nonlinear systems at various levels of organization of the world. And, in addition, the content of the term reductionism has changed.
Mechanistic reductionism is unacceptable, i.e. an actual denial of the specificity of the more complex, the reduction of the whole to the sum of its parts. But dialectically understandable reductionism is legitimate as “the use of fundamental laws of simpler levels for the purpose of theoretical derivation (explanation) of the qualitative specificity of complex formations.
Mathematical modeling of complex nonlinear systems is now beginning to grope for that class of objects for which there are bridges between dead and living nature, between the self-construction of nonlinearly evolving structures and the highest manifestations of human creative intuition. At a certain level of abstraction, a certain fundamental similarity to the pattern of events begins to emerge, a certain fundamental commonality of processes occurring in seemingly completely disparate areas of event reality.
A new image of determinism
The last part of I. Prigogine’s statement concerns the fact that modern science has ceased to be deterministic. And we cannot agree with this. Much has been said above regarding determinism. Now let’s just summarize what has been said. And Prigogine repeatedly emphasizes that modes of movement switch, the evolutionary paths of real systems bifurcate, branch repeatedly, at moments of bifurcation randomness plays a role, and as a result the world becomes mysterious, unpredictable, uncontrollable. In a certain sense, this is indeed the case. However, this article develops a central idea of a different kind: the presence of a field of development paths for open nonlinear media, a spectrum of structures excited by different topologies of initial influences on the environment.
Randomness and small fluctuations can really lead one astray and throw one off the chosen path; generally speaking, they lead to complex wanderings across the field of development. But in a sense, at least, in simplified mathematical models one can see the entire field of development paths. All possible paths of Tao open up as if from a bird's eye view. Then it becomes clear that the branching roads of evolution are limited. Of course, if randomness works, then wanderings take place, but not just any kind, but within the framework of a very specific, deterministic field of possibilities.
Management loses the character of blind intervention by trial and error or stubborn rape of reality, dangerous actions against the systems’ own tendencies, and is built on the basis of knowledge of what is generally possible in a given environment. Management begins to be based on the connection of human intervention with the essence of the internal tendencies of developing systems. Therefore, here appears, in a sense, the highest type of determinism - determinism with an understanding of the ambiguity of the future and with the possibility of reaching the desired future. This is determinism, which enhances the role of man.
Thus, the ideas presented here about the laws of self-organization and evolution of complex systems in some ways overlap with the views of I. Prigogine. But there is no agreement on a number of positions. The understanding of self-organization mechanisms is being adjusted and developed. A significant addition is the disclosure of mechanisms:
a) localization of processes in the environment in the form of structures;
b) evolution (synthesis and decay) of non-stationary dissipative structures;
c) internal stability and instability of evolutionary processes at certain stages of their development, i.e. study of the dynamics of development of processes in regimes with exacerbation;
d) alternation of these stages, different modes of changing the states of the system. Moreover, the internal mechanisms of self-organization are deeply connected with the role of chaos at the macro level and its constructive and destructive manifestations at the macro level.
KNYAZEVA E.N., KURDIUMOV S.P.
Questions of philosophy. No. 12, 1992.
SYNERGETICS AS A NEW WORLDVIEW: DIALOGUE WITH I. PRIGOGINE
The phenomena of self-organization, nonlinearity, and global evolution have repeatedly appeared as the subject of discussion on the pages of the journal “Problems of Philosophy.” Ideas about the formation of order through chaos, bifurcation changes, the irreversibility of time, instability as a fundamental characteristic of evolutionary processes have become widespread thanks to the books published in our country by I. Prigogine and his colleagues from the Free University of Brussels, primarily G. Nicolis, I. Stengers, A. Babloyants. Let us also draw the readers' attention to the less well-known Springer series of books on synergetics in our country, within which, under the general editorship of G. Haken, more than 50 volumes have been published since 1979 on various aspects of the dynamics of self-organization in natural, social and cognitive systems. Recently, fundamental collective research has appeared on those revolutionary changes in the picture of the world, the methodological foundations of science, and in the very style of scientific thinking that occur in connection with the development of the theory of self-organization (synergetics).
Loading...