General Systems Theory Underlies Postformal Thought

Abstract

The second newer model or set of theories that underlies my Theory of Postformal Thought is general systems theory—or, as we can affectionately call it, GST. Developed hand in hand with the new physics and biology, GST is useful for students of adult development and especially adult cognitive development. It offers ways to think about complex system interactions—interactions not only among supposedly inert physical systems (the focus of physics) but also among living systems. Thus, we are about to journey a step further in complexity than we did in the previous chapter. One additional step further in complexity will be made in Chapter 7, when we explore chaos and self-organizing systems.

The universe, far from being a desert of inert particles, is a theater of increasingly complex organization, a stage for development in which the human has a definite place without any upper limit to ... evolution.

Arthur Young