Sharing in Action: The Systemic Concept of the Environment in Aleksandr Bogdanov

This paper discusses the novelty of Aleksandr Bogdanov’s approach, which combines the systemic perspectives employed in his Tektology, the general science of organization (1913–1922). In this work, Bogdanov places particular emphasis on the concept of the environment and situates the process of ‘org...

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Main Author: Rispoli Giulia
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Sciendo 2021-12-01
Series:Cultural Science
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.2478/csj-2021-0010
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author Rispoli Giulia
author_facet Rispoli Giulia
author_sort Rispoli Giulia
collection DOAJ
description This paper discusses the novelty of Aleksandr Bogdanov’s approach, which combines the systemic perspectives employed in his Tektology, the general science of organization (1913–1922). In this work, Bogdanov places particular emphasis on the concept of the environment and situates the process of ‘organization’ in a shared social context. The interaction among social agents, and between them and their contextual surroundings, implies a cybernetic relationship. The environment is, in fact, regarded in terms of both its influence in shaping human living conditions and its plasticity in being transformed by human labour for specific purposes. Likewise, in Tektology, Bogdanov considers not only the social context but also biological and ecological systems that foster an emergent relationship between organisms and their environments. On the one hand, the environment favours biological organisms best adapted to its conditions; on the other hand, the environment is seen as a portion of space (ecosystem) in which populations live and continuously modify the biogeochemical conditions of that system. By referring to biological, ecological and cognitive levels of cybernetic organization, I argue that Bogdanov’s tektological polymorphic idea of the environment embraces different dimensions of the systemic discourse, and can also be useful in understanding the process of knowledge creation underlying the idea of a proletarian culture.
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spelling doaj-art-809b4cfcf24d4fc4a33e2bd7d7c9d7c12025-02-10T13:25:36ZengSciendoCultural Science1836-04162021-12-0113112913910.2478/csj-2021-0010Sharing in Action: The Systemic Concept of the Environment in Aleksandr BogdanovRispoli Giulia0Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, BerlinGermanyThis paper discusses the novelty of Aleksandr Bogdanov’s approach, which combines the systemic perspectives employed in his Tektology, the general science of organization (1913–1922). In this work, Bogdanov places particular emphasis on the concept of the environment and situates the process of ‘organization’ in a shared social context. The interaction among social agents, and between them and their contextual surroundings, implies a cybernetic relationship. The environment is, in fact, regarded in terms of both its influence in shaping human living conditions and its plasticity in being transformed by human labour for specific purposes. Likewise, in Tektology, Bogdanov considers not only the social context but also biological and ecological systems that foster an emergent relationship between organisms and their environments. On the one hand, the environment favours biological organisms best adapted to its conditions; on the other hand, the environment is seen as a portion of space (ecosystem) in which populations live and continuously modify the biogeochemical conditions of that system. By referring to biological, ecological and cognitive levels of cybernetic organization, I argue that Bogdanov’s tektological polymorphic idea of the environment embraces different dimensions of the systemic discourse, and can also be useful in understanding the process of knowledge creation underlying the idea of a proletarian culture.https://doi.org/10.2478/csj-2021-0010empiriocriticismtektologyorganizationenvironmentsystem thinkingevolutionculture
spellingShingle Rispoli Giulia
Sharing in Action: The Systemic Concept of the Environment in Aleksandr Bogdanov
Cultural Science
empiriocriticism
tektology
organization
environment
system thinking
evolution
culture
title Sharing in Action: The Systemic Concept of the Environment in Aleksandr Bogdanov
title_full Sharing in Action: The Systemic Concept of the Environment in Aleksandr Bogdanov
title_fullStr Sharing in Action: The Systemic Concept of the Environment in Aleksandr Bogdanov
title_full_unstemmed Sharing in Action: The Systemic Concept of the Environment in Aleksandr Bogdanov
title_short Sharing in Action: The Systemic Concept of the Environment in Aleksandr Bogdanov
title_sort sharing in action the systemic concept of the environment in aleksandr bogdanov
topic empiriocriticism
tektology
organization
environment
system thinking
evolution
culture
url https://doi.org/10.2478/csj-2021-0010
work_keys_str_mv AT rispoligiulia sharinginactionthesystemicconceptoftheenvironmentinaleksandrbogdanov