Talk:Equifinality

Multifinality
What about Anthony Wilden multifinality?

To make it short and simple, multifinality is a divergent process, while equifinality is a convergent one. Multifinality may mean that a same cause can lead to different effects, while equifinality is the same effect may come from many different causes.

Anthony Wilden "The rules are no game" (1988) may be the sum of "System and Structure" (1972, 1980, 1983). The 1983 French translation (Boréal Express, Montréal) is considered by Wilden as complete and definitive.

Takima (talk) 15:33, 20 June 2009 (UTC)

The authors did not directly reference Bertalanffy (1969) General System Theory: Foundations, Development, Applications (pg 40): "First is the principle of equifinality. In many closed systems the final state is unequivocally determined by the initial conditions:" later on that same page "It can be shown, however, that open systems, insofar as they attain a steady state, must show equifinality, so the supposed violation of physical laws disappears"

This page is defining "isomorphism" read pages 80 - 86 of Bertalanffy: [summarized] multiple disciplines arrive at the same set of equations and theories via different paths. Equations that originate and mature in chemistry appear and apply in economics. Forrest Stanley66.232.73.45 (talk) 04:58, 20 November 2020 (UTC)