Systems Theory

Systems theory is the interdisciplinary study of systems. A system is a cohesive group of interrelated and interdependent parts which can be natural or human-made. Every system is bounded by space and time, influenced by its environment, defined by its structure and purpose, and expressed through its functioning. A system may be more than the sum of its parts if it

Systems Everywhere

If someone were to analyze current notions and fashionable catchwords, he would find “systems” high on the list. The concept has pervaded all fields of science and penetrated into popular thinking, jargon and mass media. Systems thinking plays a dominant role in a wide range of fields from industrial enterprise and armaments to esoteric

On the History of Systems Theory

As we have seen, there is a consensus in all major fields— from subatomic physics to history—that a re-orientation of science is due. Developments in modern technology parallel this trend. So far as can be ascertained, the idea of a “general system theory” was first introduced by the present author prior to cybernetics, systems

Trends in Systems Theory

At a time when any novelty, however trivial, is hailed as being revolutionary, one is weary of using this label for scientific de- velopments. Miniskirts and long hair being called teenage revolution, and any new styling of automobiles or drug introduced by the pharmaceutical industry being so announced, the word is an advertising slogan

The Quest for a General System Theory

Modern science is characterized by its ever-increasing specializa- tion, necessitated by the enormous amount of data, the complexity of techniques and of theoretical structures within every field. Thus science is split into innumerable disciplines continually generating new subdisciplines. In consequence, the physicist, the biologist, the psychologist and the social scientist are, so to speak,

Aims of General System Theory

We may summarize these considerations as follows. Similar general conceptions and viewpoints have evolved in various disciplines of modern science. While in the past, science tried to explain observable phenomena by reducing them to an interplay of elementary units investigatable independently of each other, conceptions appear in contemporary science that are concerned with what

Closed and Open Systems: Limitations of Conventional Physics

My first example is that of closed and open systems. Conventional physics deals only with closed systems, i.e., systems which are considered to be isolated from their environment. Thus, physical chemistry tells us about the reactions, their rates, and the chemical equilibria eventually established in a closed vessel where a number of reactants is

Information and Entropy in System Perspective

Another development which is closely connected with system theory is that of the modern theory of communication, It has often been said that energy is the currency of physics, just as economic values can be expressed in dollars or pounds. There are, however, certain fields of physics and technology where this currency is not

Causality and Teleology in System Perspective

Another point I would like to mention is the change the scientific world picture has undergone in the past few decades. In the world view called mechanistic, which was born of classical physics of the nineteenth century, the aimless play of the atoms, governed by the inexorable laws of causality, produced all phenomena in

What Is Organization in System Perspective?

Similar considerations apply to the concept of organization. Organization also was alien to the mechanistic world. The problem did not appear in classical physics, mechanics, electrodynamics, etc. Even more, the second principle of thermodynamics indicated destruction of order as the general direction of events. It is true that this is different in modern physics.

General System Theory in Science

1. General System Theory and the Unity of Science Let me close these remarks with a few words about the general implications of interdisciplinary theory. The integrative function of general system theory can perhaps be summarized as follows. So far, the unification of science has been seen in the reduction of all sciences to

The Ultimate Precept: Man as the Individual

In dealing with complexes of “elements,” three different kinds of distinction may be made—i.e., 1. according to their number; 2. according to their species; 3. according to the relations of elements. The following simple graphical illustration may clarify this point (Fig.3.1) with a and b symbolizing various complexes. Fig. 3.1. See text. In cases

Growth in System Perspective

Equations of this type are found in a variety of fields, and we can use system (3.1) to illustrate the formal identity of system laws in various realms, in other words, to demonstrate the existence of a general system theory. This may be shown for the simplest case—i.e., the system con­sisting of elements of

Competition in System Perspective

Our system of equations may also indicate competition be­tween parts. The simplest possible case is, again, that all coefficients (aj#i)= 0, — i.e., that the increase in each element depends only on this element itself. Then we have, for two elements: Eliminating time, we obtain: This is the equation known in biology as the

Wholeness, Sum, Mechanization, Centralization in System Perspective

The concepts just indicated have often been considered to describe characteristics only of living beings, or even to be a proof of vitalism. In actual fact they are formal properties of systems. (1) Let us assume again that the equations (3.1) can be de­veloped into Taylor series: We see that any change in some

Finality in System Perspective

1. Finality As we have seen, systems of equations of the type considered may have three different kinds of solution. The system in ques­tion may asymptotically attain a stable stationary state with increasing time; it may never attain such state; or there may be periodic oscillations. In case the system approaches a stationary state,

Isomorphism in Science and The Unity of Science

1. Isomorphism in Science The present study merely intended to briefly point out the general aim and several concepts of general system theory. Further tasks on the one hand would be to express this theory in a logico-mathematically strict form; on the other hand the principles holding for any type of systems would have

Approaches and Aims in Systems Science

When, some 40 years ago, I started my life as a scientist, biology was involved in the mechanism-vitalism controversy. The mechanistic procedure essentially was to resolve the living organism into parts and partial processes: the organism was an aggregate of cells, the cell one of colloids and organic molecules, behavior a sum of unconditional

Methods in General Systems Research

Ashby (1958a) has admirably outlined two possible ways or general methods in systems study: Two main lines are readily distinguished. One, already well developed in the hands of von Bertalanffy and his co-workers, takes the world as we find it, examines the various systems that occur in it— zoological, physiological, and so on—and then

Advances of General System Theory

The decisive question is that of the explanatory and predictive value of the “new theories” attacking the host of problems around wholeness, teleology, etc. Of course, the change in intellectual climate which allows one to see new problems which were overlooked previously, or to see problems in a new light, is in a way