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Encyclopedia > Ludwig von Bertalanffy

Karl Ludwig von Bertalanffy (September 19, 1901, Vienna, Austria - June 12, 1972, New York, USA) was a biologist who was a founder of general systems theory--which he literally translated from the mathematization of Nicolai Hartmann's Ontology as stated by himself in his seminal work-- .An Austrian citizen, he did much work in Canada and the United States. September 19 is the 262nd day of the year (263rd in leap years). ... 1901 (MCMI) was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... Vienna (German: Wien [viːn]; Slovenian: Dunaj, Hungarian: Bécs, Czech: Vídeň, Slovak: Viedeň, Romany Vidnya; Croatian and Serbian: Beč) is the capital of Austria, and also one of Austrias nine states (Land Wien). ... June 12 is the 163rd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (164th in leap years), with 202 days remaining. ... 1972 (MCMLXXII) was a leap year that started on a Saturday. ... State nickname: The Empire State Official languages English Capital Albany Largest city New York City Governor George Pataki (R) Senators Charles Schumer (D) Hillary Clinton (D) Area  - Total  - % water Ranked 27th 141,205 km² 13. ... Main articles: Life The most salient example of biological universality is that all living things share a common carbon-based biochemistry and in particular pass on their characteristics via genetic material, which is based on nucleic acids such as DNA and which uses a common genetic code with only minor... Systems theory is an interdisciplinary field which studies relationships of systems as a whole. ... Nicolai Hartmann (February 20, 1882 – October 9, 1950) was a German philosopher. ...

Contents


The individual growth model

The individual growth model published by von Bertanlanffy in 1934 is widely used in biological models and exists in a number of permutations. A more general version was proposed by F. J. Richards in 1959. The growth model is a differential equation in the tradition of earlier demographic models, also used to model surplus production (biomasses rather than number of individuals or length of individuals). An abstract model (or conceptual model) is a theoretical construct that represents physical, biological or social processes, with a set of variables and a set of logical and quantitative relationships between them. ... 1934 (MCMXXXIV) was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1959 (MCMLIX) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Demography is the study of human population dynamics. ...


In its simplest version the so-called von Bertalanffy growth equation is expressed as a differential equation of length (L) over time (t):


L'(t) = k left( L_infty - L(t) right)


when k is the individual growth rate and L_infty the maximum individual length.


References:

  • Bertalanffy, L. von, (1934).Untersuchungen über die Gesetzlichkeit des Wachstums. I. Allgemeine Grundlagen der Theorie; mathematische und physiologische Gesetzlichkeiten des Wachstums bei Wassertieren. Arch. Entwicklungsmech., 131:613-652.

Work

Bertanlanffy authored some 10 books

  • 1928, Kritische theorie der Formbildung, Borntraeger. In English: Modern Theory of Development, Harper New York, 1932
  • 1937, Das Gefüge des Lebens, Leipzig.
  • 1940, Vom Molekül zur Organismenwelt, Potsdam.
  • 1949, Das biologische Weltbild, Europeische Rundschau, Bern. In English: Problems of Life, New York, 1952.
  • 1953, Biophysik des Fliessgleichgewichts, Braunschweig ism W. Beier & R. Laue.
  • 1967, Robots, Men and Minds, New York
  • 1968, General System theory: Foundations, Development, Applications, Ludwig von Bertalanffy, George Braziller New York.
  • 1968, The Organismic Psychology and Systems Theory, Worcester
  • 1975, Perspectives on General Systems Theory. Scientific-Philosophical Studies, E. Taschdjian (eds.), George Braziller New York.
  • 1981, A Systems View of Men, P. A. LaViolette, Boulder.

The first articles from Bertalanffy on General Systems Theory: Systems theory or general systems theory or systemics is an interdisciplinary field which studies systems as a whole. ...

  • 1945, Zu einer allgemeinen Systemtehre, Blätter für deutsche Philosophie, 3/4. (Extract in: Biologia Generalis, 19 (1949), 139-164.
  • 1950, An Outline of General System Theory, Britisch Journal of Philosophie of Science 1, p.139-164
  • 1951, General system theory - A new approach tot unity of science (Symposium), Human Biology, Dec 1951, Vol. 23, p. 303-361.

See also

"A new approach tot unity of science" typo tot => to "A new approach to unity of science" Population dynamics is the study of marginal and long-term changes in the numbers, individual weights and age composition of individuals in one or several populations, and biological and environmental processes influencing those changes. ... Systems theory is an interdisciplinary field which studies relationships of systems as a whole. ...


Regards, Ebbe Munk, mail@ebbemunk.dk


External links


  Results from FactBites:
 
A BRIEF EXPLANATION OF GENERAL SYSTEM THEORY (569 words)
Ludwig Von Bertalanffy was a Hungarian biologist educated in Vienna, a member of the famed "Vienna School." He fathered an organismic approach to biology as a reaction to the vitalism-reductionism arguments that were rampant in his day.
Von Bertalanffy explained that he thought of the idea of General System Theory back in 1936 but hesitated until 1948 when the intellectual climate was more receptive.
This led Von Bertalanffy to postulate a new discipline called, "General System Theory," its subject matter being the formulation and derivation of those principles which are valid for systems in general.
Soft Systems Methodology: Its Origins and Use in Librarianship (7122 words)
Von Bertalanffy argued that while classical science employed basic mathematical notions such as number and species, taxonomies, relationships among elements of a system must also be accounted for.
Vickers and von Bertalanffy were reacting to their own conceptions of the physics of their days, and perhaps unduly to classical models inherited from previous centuries.
Von Bertalanffy and Vickers argued that organizations and societies had been thought of in the thermodynamic terms descriptive of closed systems (particularly the law of entropy).
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