Literally, reducing a
whole to its parts. In
mathematics, analysis is the investigation of limiting processes and provides a firm foundation for the infinitesimal
calculus. Although Leibniz thought infinitesimals to be infinitely small but real quantities, modern interpretations consider these mere
construct ions as in quantum physics. In
cybernetics, analysis refers to the limiting process in a
system involving an observer and the observed. The observer draws distinctions which the observed opposes or violates forcing the observer to relate the parts distinguished until a stable description of the system involving the observer emerges (
see second-order cybernetics ). In a cybernetic analysis, the whole is described not merely in terms of its parts but most significantly by the pattern that connects them (
see relation, communication ,
organization ). Such an analysis reveals the wholistic properties of a system without loss or destruction. (
krippendorff )
