What Is a System? An Interaction-Based Account of Structure-Behavior Coalescence in General Systems Theory

• URL: http://arxiv.org/abs/2609.00043v1
• Date: Sat, 29 Aug 2026 22:40:46 GMT
• Title: What Is a System? An Interaction-Based Account of Structure-Behavior Coalescence in General Systems Theory
• Abstract summary: Existing definitions commonly characterize a system in terms of elements, relationships, boundaries, functions, or interactions.<n>This paper proposes Structure-Behavior Coalescence (SBC) as an interaction-based account of what a system is.
• Score: 0.0
• License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
• Abstract: The question of what constitutes a system remains fundamental to General Systems Theory. Existing definitions commonly characterize a system in terms of elements, relationships, boundaries, functions, or interactions, but these perspectives do not always provide a unified account of how system structure and system behavior constitute one another. This paper proposes Structure-Behavior Coalescence (SBC) as an interaction-based account of what a system is. From the SBC perspective, a system is not merely a collection of elements or relationships, nor is it adequately characterized by behavior considered independently of structure. Rather, a system is a structured entity whose behavior arises through interactions among its constituent entities, with those interactions simultaneously contributing to both its structural organization and behavioral realization. The paper develops this perspective by distinguishing system structure, interaction, and behavior while treating them as inseparable aspects of a unified system representation. It argues that interactions provide the essential link through which structural relationships become behavioral processes and through which behavioral processes reveal and instantiate system structure. This perspective provides a basis for representing systems in a manner that maintains consistency between what a system is and what a system does. The paper further considers the implications of SBC for General Systems Theory, particularly for system identity, system boundaries, behavioral emergence, and the representation of complex systems. SBC is presented as a general conceptual foundation that complements existing systems theories by placing the coalescence of structure and behavior through interaction at the center of the definition of a system.

Related papers

• Structure-Behavior Coalescence and the Limits of Traditional Systems Theory [0.0]
  The paper introduces Structure-Behavior Coalescence (SBC) as a reframing principle.<n>From this perspective, system identity is understood as arising from the sustained co-determination of structural organization and behavioral dynamics.<n>This reframing provides a unified way of understanding system identity, emergence, and boundary formation within a cybernetically informed systems perspective.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2026-08-29T21:04:46Z)
• NeuroCogMap Reveals Cognitive Organization of Large Language Models [82.70079471723963]
  We present NeuroCogMap, a cognitive neuroscience-inspired framework that organizes internal features of large language models into functional parcels.<n>These parcels form a stable and semantically coherent organization that is partly conserved across models.<n>These findings establish NeuroCogMap as a system-level framework for mapping functional organization in artificial systems.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2026-07-01T03:48:49Z)
• A Survey of Reasoning in Autonomous Driving Systems: Open Challenges and Emerging Paradigms [49.66022971508878]
  We argue that reasoning should be elevated from a modular component to the system's cognitive core.<n>We derive and systematize seven core reasoning challenges, such as the responsiveness-reasoning trade-off and social-game reasoning.<n>We identify a fundamental and unresolved tension between the high-latency, deliberative nature of LLM-based reasoning and the millisecond-scale, safety-critical demands of vehicle control.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2026-03-11T07:40:53Z)
• Systems Explaining Systems: A Framework for Intelligence and Consciousness [0.0]
  This paper proposes a conceptual framework in which intelligence and consciousness emerge from relational structure rather than from prediction or domain-specific mechanisms.<n>We introduce the systems-explaining-systems principle, where consciousness emerges when higher-order systems learn and interpret the relational patterns of lower-order systems across time.<n>The framework reframes predictive processing as an emergent consequence of contextual interpretation rather than explicit forecasting.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2026-01-07T11:19:22Z)
• Semantic Numeration Systems as Dynamical Systems [55.2480439325792]
  The cardinal abstract object (CAO) formed by them in a certain connectivity topology is proposed to be considered as a linear discrete dynamical system with nonlinear control.<n>The fundamental role of the configuration matrix, which combines information about the types of cardinal semantic operators in the CAO, their parameters and topology of connectivity, is demonstrated.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2025-07-28T19:29:36Z)
• Towards the Structure and Mechanisms of Complex Systems, the Approach of the Quantitative Theory of Meaning [0.0]
  We study analysis of complex systems using a Quantitative Theory of Meaning developed as an extention of Shannon's Communication Theory.<n>The dynamics of the system are provided by reflexive communication between heterogenious agents.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2024-12-12T07:18:47Z)
• Inferentialist Resource Semantics [48.65926948745294]
  This paper shows how inferentialism enables a versatile and expressive framework for resource semantics.<n>How inferentialism seamlessly incorporates the assertion-based approach of the logic of Bunched Implications.<n>This integration enables reasoning about shared and separated resources in intuitive and familiar ways.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2024-02-14T14:54:36Z)
• A Systems-Theoretical Formalization of Closed Systems [47.99822253865054]
  There is a lack of formalism for some key foundational concepts in systems engineering. One of the most recently acknowledged deficits is the inadequacy of systems engineering practices for intelligent systems.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2023-11-16T19:01:01Z)
• EB-DEVS: A Formal Framework for Modeling and Simulation of Emergent Behavior in Dynamic Complex Systems [0.0]
  We introduce Emergent Behavior-DEVS (EB-DEVS) a Modeling and Simulation (M&S) formalism. EB-DEVS builds on the DEVS formalism, adding upward/downward communication channels to well-established capabilities. We present three case studies: flocks of birds with learning, population epidemics with vaccination and sub-cellular dynamics with homeostasis.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2020-10-10T16:39:41Z)
• Towards an Interface Description Template for AI-enabled Systems [77.34726150561087]
  Reuse is a common system architecture approach that seeks to instantiate a system architecture with existing components. There is currently no framework that guides the selection of necessary information to assess their portability to operate in a system different than the one for which the component was originally purposed. We present ongoing work on establishing an interface description template that captures the main information of an AI-enabled component.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2020-07-13T20:30:26Z)
• Expressiveness and machine processability of Knowledge Organization Systems (KOS): An analysis of concepts and relations [0.0]
  The potential of both the expressiveness and machine processability of each Knowledge Organization System is extensively regulated by its structural rules. Ontologies explicitly define diverse types of relations, and are by their nature machine-processable.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2020-03-11T12:35:52Z)

This list is automatically generated from the titles and abstracts of the papers in this site.

This site does not guarantee the quality of this site (including all information) and is not responsible for any consequences.