IDEAL-SEEKING SYSTEM
| Collection | International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics |
|---|---|
| Year | 2004 |
| Vol. (num.) | 2(1) |
| ID | ◀ 1604 ▶ |
| Object type | Human sciences, Epistemology, ontology or semantics |
A system able to pursue truth, or ultimate good, or any other value.
This concept, as derived from the notion of purposive system, represents very well the idealistic current among systemists, i.e. basically E.A. SINGER Jr, C. W. CHURCHMAN, and their followers. Since the meaning given to “truth”, or “good”, or “beauty”, or any other supposedly absolute value,… can be very variable according to different proponents, the ideal-seeking system concept is necessarily somewhat controversial in the ways it is used.
Moreover, there are differences between those who believe that individuals and societies can be ideal-seeking (R.L. ACKOFF) and those who consider that only individuals can be (F.E. EMERY).
This last author, as quoted by G.A. BRITTON and H. McCALLION (1994, p.497 — principal source of this entry), “postulates the following characteristics of ideal-seeking systems:
- “1) Only individuals can be ideal-seeking systems
- “2) Individuals can sustain the ideal-seeking state only temporarily
- “3) Ideal emerge only within group life.
- “4) No ideal can be pursued single-mindedly without sacrifice of the others.
- “5) The essence of wisdom is deciding on what sacrifice of other ideals should be made in any particular choice between purposes” (p.497).
Even this quite matter-of-facts statement cannot dispel doubts about what happens when encountered ideals (within the same ideal-seeker, or still more so, among various ones) are coming in opposition. Moreover, ideals are most frequently convenient fodder for ideology.
In any case, a good systemic description of the roots of ideal-seeking as a commonly observed behavior would still be very useful: how and why it appears, and how it operates in the mind of the ideal-seekers.