Table Of ContentOBSERVING
SYSTEMS
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HEINZ VON FOERSTER
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THE SYSTEMS INQUIRY SERIES
Systems inquiry is grounded in a philosophical base of a
systems view of the world. It has formulated theoretical pos
tulates, conceptual images and paradigms, and developed strat
egies and tools of systems methodology. Systems inquiry is
both conclusion oriented (knowledge production) and decision
oriented (knowledge utilization). It uses both analytic and
synthetic modes of thinking and it enables us to understand
and work with ever increasing complexities that surround us
and which we are part of.
The Systems Inquiry Series aims to encompass all three
domains of systems science: systems philosophy, systems theory
and systems technology. Contributions introduced in the Series
may focus on any one or combinations of these domains or
develop and explain relationships among domains and thus por
tray the systemic nature of systems inquiry.
Five kinds of presentations are considered in the Series:
(1) original work by an author or authors, (2) edited compen
dium organized around a common theme, (3) edited proceed
ings of symposia or colloquy, (4 ) translations from original
works, and (5) out of print works of special significance.
Appearing in high quality paperback format, books in the
Series will be moderately priced in order to make them acces
sible to the various publics who have an interest in or are in
volv.ed in the systems movement.
Series Editors
BELA H. BANATHY and GEORGE KUR
HEINZ VON FOERSTER
OBSERVING
SYSTEMS
WITH AN INTRODUCTION
BY
FRANCISCO J. VARELA
(Second Edition)
THE SYSTEMS INQUIRY SERIES
Published by Intersystems Publications
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Copyright © 1984 (Second Edition) by Heinz Von Foerster
Copyright © 1981 (First Edition) by Heinz Von Foerster
All Rights Reserved.
Published in the United States of America by lntersystems Publications
PRINTED IN U.S.A.
This publication may not be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted
in whole or in part, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy
ing, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of INTERSYSTEMS
PUBLICATIONS (Seaside, California 93955, U.S.A.)
ISBN 0-914105-19-l
Prelaee
SECOND EDITION
When Axel Duwe, the man responsible for lntersystems Publications, asked me to
write a preface for a second edition of Observing Systems, I was glad to have the chance
to answer some questions that have been raised by readers of the previous edition, and
to add a few comments.
I was frequently asked what I meant with the title of this book. I intended to
leave it to the readers to decide for themselves whether this kaleidoscope of papers is
about systems that observe, or about how to observe systems (including systems that
observe, for instance, the observant reader).
Then there were the questions about the choice of papers, and about the sequence
of their presentation. I could have turned to Francisco Varela who made these chdices
to provide us with answers, but by going through these articles again I could see a pat
tern. With the exception of two papers (No. 2 and No. 6) all articles of this collection
are based on lectures, addresses, comments, etc., made at various conferences, meetings,
or symposia. In hindsight this pattern appears to be obvious; speaking for me is never a
monologue, it is always a dialogue: I see myself through the eyes of the other. When I
see comprehension, I may have comprehended; when I see puzzlement, I apparently
have yet to clarify that point for myself. Moreover, when I speak to a large audience, it
is mostly my adrenalin that is speaking; hence, adrenalin seems for me the best ink to
write with. Therefore, in this edition occasion and date of presentation is given as a
footnote on the titlepage of each paper.
The chosen sequence of papers is (almost) that of the progression dates of presen
tation. However, as one reader commented, we should have taken more seriously the
last phrase of my earlier preface: " ... the End is supposed to be a Beginning". That is,
she suggested reading this collection by beginning with the last paper first, and then
going backwards in reverse order, because the full grown organism may contemplate the
seed, but not the seed the organism.
On the other hand, with the last paper in this collection, "On Constructing a
Reality", I had made common cause with those who prefer to see realities being inven
ted, rather than discovered. In the more than ten years since this paper was given, the
number of those who hold this position has grown. Thus I see the notion of an observer
independent "Out There", of "The Reality" fading away very much like other erstwhile
notions, "the phologiston", "the imponderable caloric fluid", "the ding-an-sich", "the
ether", etc., whose names may be remembered, but whose meanings have been lost.
H.V.F.
Pescadero, California
April, 1984
Prelaee
FIRST EDITION
Francisco Varela took it upon himself not only to select from my writings
the papers for this collection and finding a publisher for it, but also to write an
introduction to these articles that were written over a period of twenty-five
years.
I am not in the habit of reading my papers, so when I went for the first
time through this collection I had difficulties believing that it was I who had
supposedly written all that. It was more like being transported in time to those
days and nights of questioning, disputing, debating, arguing the issues before us
at the Biological Computer Laboratory, a circle of friends, that is, my students,
teachers and colleagues.
For me the articles of this collection appear to be frozen instants of an
ongoing dialogue, frames of a movie entitled "Observing Systems," whose jerks
and jumps backwards and forwards are not to be blamed on the actors, the
artists, or the participants, but on the shorcomings of the raporteur, that is
me.
When I began writing the credits for this sequence of frames and realized
they would always be incomplete, I abandoned this idea in the hope that the
references to each article could give a clue as to the main participants in that
dialogue. A more complete account is, of course to be found in the Microfiche
Collection of the BCL Publications mentioned in Part 111.
Whatever the critics may say about this movie, I wish they could see the tre
mendous joy I had in participating in its creation, and that its End is supposed
to be a Beginning.
H.V.F.
Pescadero, California
May, 1982
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