THE SCIENCE OF CYBERNETICS AND THE CYBERNETICS OF SCIENCE

Recent developments in cybernetics have challenged key tenets in the philosophy of science. The philosophy of science constitutes a theory of knowledge that is often called realism. However, the philosophy of science is not a unified field, there are a variety of points of view. Contemporary cybernetics, meanwhile, is developing a philosophy called constructivism. This paper compares cybernetics with two important schools of thought within the philosophy of science, lists several different assumptions that lead to misunderstandings between scientists and cyberneticians, and then suggests a way of resolving the differences not by rejecting science but by enlarging it. © 1990 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.