Models and Metaphors. Part I: From the Boundaries of Formalization to the Visualization of the Non-Formalized

Abstract

The explicit relationship among perception, communication, and design is being discussed in some detail, in order to relate it to characteristic details of the modeling of the world which defines the scientific and artistic activities of humans, in the first place, but also the philosophical grasping of the world and its foundations in order to position humankind within this worldly framework, at the same time. In particular, the structure and constitutional role of language are being analyzed with a view to the latter's universality. For the special case of synergetics (within the recent context of theories of self-organization and the formation of structure), this cognitive background is being inspected as to possible consequences for aspects of complexity and nonlinearity.