Abstract
Churchman's concept of “inquiring systems” and its underlying “anatomy of system teleology” have been a source of inspiration for the development of Peter B. Checkland's Soft Systems Methodology. The author here provides a personal account of the importance that Churchman's approach has had for him. In the spirit of Singerian inquiry, he also offers a few critical considerations with respect to the assumptions and limitations of Churchman's teleological system approach. (Editor)
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Checkland, P. (1981).Systems Thinking, Systems Practice, John Wiley, Chichester.
Checkland, P. (1983). OR and the systems movement: Mappings and conflicts.J. Op. Res. Soc. 34 (8): 661–675.
Checkland, P. (1985). From optimizing to learning: A development of systems thinking for the 1990s.J. Op. Res. Soc. 36(9): 757–767.
Checkland, P., and Casar, A. (1986). Vicker's concept of an appreciative system: A systemic account.J. Appl. Syst. Anal. 13: 3–18.
Churchman, C. W. (1969).The Systems Approach, Dell, New York.
Churchman, C. W. (1971).The Design of Inquiring Systems, Basic Books, New York.
Churchman, C. W. (1979a). Paradise regained: A hope for the future of system design education. In Bayraktar, B. A.,et al. (eds),Education in Systems Science, Taylor and Francis, London.
Churchman, C. W. (1979b).The Systems Approach and Its Enemies, Basic Books, New York.
Hall, A. D. (1972).A Methodology for Systems Engineering, Van Nostrand, Princeton, N.J.
Optner, S. L. (ed.) (1973).Systems Analysis, Penguin Books, Harmondsworth.
Sica, A. (1981). Review ofThe Systems Approach and Its Enemies, Am. J. Sociol. 87 (1): 208–211.
Simon, H. (1960).The New Science of Management Decision, Harper and Row, New York.
Vickers, G. (1965).The Art of Judgement, Chapman and Hall, London. (Republished by Harper and Row, London, 1983.)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Checkland, P. Churchman's “anatomy of system teleology” revisited. Systems Practice 1, 377–384 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01066580
Received:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01066580