Can synergetics serve as a bridge between the natural and social sciences?

Hermann Haken

pp. 51-65

in: Ramesh Mishra Kumar, D. Maas, Eduard Zwierlein (eds), On self-organization, Berlin, Springer, 1994

Abstract

This article first recapitulates some general concepts of synergetics and illustrates them by means of applications to physics (lasers), biology (human finger movements), computer sciences (parallel networks for pattern recognition), and, in particular, sociology. As is shown, a great variety of phenomena may be described by means of general concepts, such as stability and instability, order parameters, and the slaving principle. Based on such common principles, a bridge may be formed between the natural and social sciences.