GENERAL SYSTEMS THEORY: What does the expression mean
Charles François (2004). GENERAL SYSTEMS THEORY: What does the expression mean, International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics, 2(1): 1409.
| Collection | International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics |
|---|---|
| Year | 2004 |
| Vol. (num.) | 2(1) |
| ID | ◀ 1409 ▶ |
| Object type | Epistemology, ontology or semantics |
R. RODRIGUEZ DELGADO writes: “According to BERTALANFFY ”General Systems Theory“ is a new science of organization and wholeness. He postulates the legitimity of seeking a theory, embracing universal principles, valid for ”systems“ in general.
- “One of its main consequences is the detection of structural similarities or isomorphisms in different fields as for example the exponential law of growth, the theory of non-organized or organized complexity or the general theory of organization.
- “The classical science tried to explain phenomena by isolated causal chains or by statistical results due to randomness. However this science is not sufficient for the understanding of the interactions of a great number of elements or processes, which demands new types of mathematical and logical thought, to be added to those already in existence.
- “This germinating thinking has been enriched and encompasses now the information and communication theories, cybernetics, net theories, stochastic models, bifurcations theory, multicausality, uncertainty and complementarity principles, order and chaos theories, etc.
- “Generally, the authors do not speak about a ”General Theory of the System“, which would concord with BERTALANFFY's thinking, but of ”General Systems Theory“… a way of speaking which, as observed by CHURCHMAN, is ambiguous in English, in view that the adjective ”General“ may be applied to ”systems“ as well as to ”theory“. As a result ”General Systems Theory“ could mean a ”Theory of General Systems“ or a ”General Theory of Systems“.
- “This ambiguity could be removed by considering that the ”General Theory“ includes two different levels of generality, just like ”Philosophy“, which means a global thinking, while it can be simultaneously divided into ”Philosophy of science, of fine arts, of law, and even admit new subdivisions as Philosophy of physics, of biology, of painting or of music.
- “It is thus convenient to consider General Systems Theory as applicable at any kind of levels and any type of systems — natural, human or artificial — even of very reduced size, in view that its characteristics are of universal scope.
- “On the other hand, the Theory of the General Systems would include large subdivisions: physico-chemical, biological, social, human, artistic, axiological, ideological systems, etc., which would research the general laws and the emergent qualities of each group, aside from including interdisciplinary fields as for example physico-chemistry or molecular biology.
- “A study of emergent qualities on each level gives us a synchronic vision (through which systems appear in a clearly differenciated way), as well as a diachronic one, (in which it becomes possible to conceive the evolution and the mutations of physico-chemical, biological, social, ideological systems, or even of machines.
- “Of course, so-called ”basic concepts“ are not unshakable principles, but on the contrary concepts that should be considered, elaborated and debated from very diverse angles” (1993a, p. 215-6).
This is a good general summary of the varied approaches of many systemists toward this epistemological and semantic issue.