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1992
Journal Article
Titel
Macht und Herrschaft aus der Sicht eines Naturwissenschaftlers.
Alternative
Power and sway from a natural scientists point of view
Abstract
Starting with a common sense meaning, the notion of power is characterized as a rather quantitative concept (partial order), while on the other hand the notion of sway is more structural in the sense that it characterizes a mere central organization of a system. The notion of hierarchy is developed in two ways: The general "two-eyed" hierarchy is a layered order that has a specific (but deliberate) horizontal structure on each layer, whilst the "one- eyed" hierarchy has a horizontal structure that is a copy of the vertical one. This one-eyed hierarchy enforces sway. It serves as a possible (but not the general) practice of power. There is a wide spectrum of solutions for practice of power ranging from sway to sway-asceticism. It can be shown that at least in the soft- and hardware engineering context sway- oriented central structures normally are not the optimal ones. Power (allowing possibilities) and life (allowing the components' own "way of life") are the criteria for optimal syste ms structures. Sway can be regarded as a kind of environmental pollution. The new paradigm is contra-intuitive since it opposes non-technical traditions (military, economical, clerical systems).