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On Semantic Analysis and Consensus Building
This project will aim at building consensus, not by
normatively establishing a monolithic edifice, but through the
explication of the various senses of terms. Careful semantic analysis
will be done of words and concepts used in systems and cybernetics
in the context of their historical development. While we hope
that actual progress can be made through the elimination of incoherent
or anachronistic usages, it may be that a simple listing of the
various senses will be required. If one contributor asserts "P", and
another "not P", and no further progress can be made, then in the worst case a kind of "null consensus" can be achieved by including "P or not P" in the project. At the very least the different conditions under which these usages arise should be described. At best one usage would be eliminated.
Nodes of the project will be in one of the following categories:
- Consensus Nodes
- Ideas held in common by the contributors and the Editorial Board.
- Individual Contribution Nodes
- Further development of the ideas
expressed in the Consensus Nodes at greater depth. This development need not be held consensually by the contributors and Editors, but should be similar in spirit and style to the Consensus Nodes.
- Discussion Nodes
- Including defence or criticism of the
consensus or individual contribution nodes and development of other
ideas.
Copyright© 1993 Principia Cybernetica -
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