Readable atlas · Release 0.35
Materially open system
A system that exchanges matter across its boundary; thermodynamic accounts also attend to energy exchange. Material openness is distinct from Bhaskar’s causal openness and from an invitation to organisational participation.
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Summary
A system that exchanges matter across its boundary; thermodynamic accounts also attend to energy exchange. Material openness is distinct from Bhaskar’s causal openness and from an invitation to organisational participation.
Implications for practice
Inspect the passage and the stated domain before using a term in a new setting.
Key distinctions
- source account vs editorial interpretation
- material exchange vs causal openness
- bibliographic access vs full-text evidence
Historical development
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Ideas it depends on
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Further developments
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Connections to practice
- Name the domain, conditions, and observation that could challenge the proposed connection.
Common confusions
- Treating a shared term as proof that two accounts are equivalent.
Further checks
- Original-source verification and human editorial review remain open.
Recorded connections
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Status: candidate · Relation: presents account of
In Challoner’s reconstruction: Open systems exchange matter and can maintain steady states away from equilibrium.
Locator: pp. 3–4, DS1–DS4 and PS1–PS2
- Bertalanffy: organisation, openness, and equifinality: researcher module (source scoped research pass)
Materially open system explanatory prerequisite Equifinality
Status: candidate · Relation: explanatory prerequisite
Source-scoped reading of Challoner’s module: The module locates equifinality within specified open-system conditions, not an unrestricted management claim.
Locator: p. 4, DS4 and PS3
- Bertalanffy: organisation, openness, and equifinality: researcher module (source scoped research pass)
Claims and disputes
In Challoner’s reconstruction: Open systems exchange matter and can maintain steady states away from equilibrium.
Claim status: candidate. Review status: research pass needs editor.
Source-scoped interpretation. Human editorial acceptance remains pending.
Supporting sources
- Bertalanffy: organisation, openness, and equifinality: researcher module (source scoped research pass)
Source-scoped reading of Challoner’s module: The module locates equifinality within specified open-system conditions, not an unrestricted management claim.
Claim status: candidate. Review status: research pass needs editor.
Source-scoped interpretation. Human editorial acceptance remains pending.
Supporting sources
- Bertalanffy: organisation, openness, and equifinality: researcher module (source scoped research pass)
Sources and passage locators
- Bertalanffy: organisation, openness, and equifinality: researcher module (source scoped research pass)
- Bertalanffy: organisation, openness, and equifinality: researcher module: pp. 3–4, DS1–DS4 and PS1–PS2 · research pass needs editor
- Bertalanffy: organisation, openness, and equifinality: researcher module: p. 4, DS4 and PS3 · research pass needs editor
Cite this entry
Taylor, B. P. (2026). Materially open system. The Necessary Tangle, release 0.35. https://transduction.systems/entries/concept_material_open_system/
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