The term "synergetics" was introduced by Hermann Haken, pioneer in the study of the laser, on 1970. It means the science of cooperation and can be considered as a science of orderly, self-organized, collective behavior subject to general laws. Therefore, the aim of synergetics is to establish the natural laws on which the self-organization of systems is based.
In physics there are different aggregate states-solid, liquid, gaseous-called phases, and the transitions between them are called phase transitions. The three phases differ only in the arrangement of the molecules. If we heat a layer of liquid in a dish from below and if the temperature difference berween top and bottom is only slight, there will be no motion of the liquid on a macrolevel. But when the temperature difference is further increased the liquid begins to move macroscopically in a quite orderly manner in the form of rolls. The curious fact is that such hot drops do not rise irregularly but in an orderly manner. Nature discovers that it can transport the heated parts upward more efficiently when they join in a regular motion. If we add the individual motions of the rolls, we obtain a hexagonal pattern. The liquid rises in the center of the hexagons and sinks along the outside:
Once the choice is made the alternatives are out of the question, and the choice cannot be reversed. Minor fluctuations decide the nature of the choice. Once it has been made, all particles must accept it. Increasingly complex motion patterns can be created by self-organization, that is, and employing the language of synergetics, new order parameters succeed each other.
Nowadays, many concepts of the synergetics, like "attractor", "bifurcation", "fluctuation", "synchronization effect", "symmetry broken"... are useful for the application to social sciences. For instance, to social conflicts. According to Haken, conflicts exist that offer two equivalent solutions in which society resolves the conflict for individuals merely displacing it. Do the courts favor the mother or the father in the child´s upbringing? (Haken, 1984). The symmetry must be broken by the judge. The advantages and disadvantages of one solution are balanced against those of the other.
