Abstract
Chapter 1 presented the basic ideas behind the theory, which are analysed in some detail. Chapter 2 described the heuristic models of several relevant combinatory systems in the context of the five typical classes. Chapter 3 developed the Theory of Combinatory Automata, models for simulating the operative logic of combinatory systems. This Chapter tries to answer three questions: are combinatory systems “systems” in the true sense of the term? Why is this theory able to explain so many and so varied a number of phenomena, even though it is based on a very simple modus operandi? Are combinatory systems different than complex systems?
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Notes
- 1.
We must not confuse the endogenous or exogenous point of view with the external or internal description of a system. In fact, the internal, structural, external, or environmental descriptions always involve systems observed from an exogenous point of view; the observer that describes the system does not study the nature of the system; that is, the elements and relations that make up the system and define its state and output: “The internal description is basically “structural”; that is, it tries to describe the behavior of the system in terms of state variables and their interdependence. The external description is nevertheless “functional”, since it describes the behavior of the system through its interactions with the external environment” (von Bertalanffy 1968, p. 149).
- 2.
“The notion of bounded rationality, originally developed by Herbert Simon, has occupied an important place in many discussions about an alternative to neoclassical economics. Some of these discussions take place within the so-called “old” (or “original”) and “new” institutionalisms. In other cases, a connection between bounded rationality and an alternative theory is established via fundamental uncertainty by some authors such as Tony Lawson (1985), J. Gay Meeks (1991), and Roberto Marchionatti (1999), who suggested that John Maynard Keynes notion of rationality was similar to Simon’s bounded rationality or that he would be sympathetic to Simon’s views (see also Garner 1982; Arestis 1992; Lavoie 1992). Discussing bounded rationality has become even more important with its growing incorporation into the mainstream of our profession (see the surveys by Barton Lipman (1995), John Conlisk (1996) and, with special reference to game theory, Robert Aumann (1997)), often with the aim of strengthening neoclassical economics rather than replacing it, as pointed out by Esther-Mirjam Sent (1998)” (Dequech 2001, p. 911).
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Mella, P. (2017). The Heuristic Value of Combinatory Systems Theory. In: The Combinatory Systems Theory. Contemporary Systems Thinking. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-54805-0_4
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