Skip to main content

The idea of emergent property

Journal of the Operational Research Society volume 54, pages 239–247 (2003)Cite this article

Abstract

Those who venture into systems thinking may find difficulties in identifying exactly to what the idea of emergent property refers and what its significance might be. Drawing upon the writings of four major systems thinkers, twelve aspects of emergent properties are identified. Simultaneously, four related epistemological tasks are made explicit. An overall result is that the idea of emergent property is a unifying epistemological concept. More generally, systems thinking may be understood as an epistemological theory, or at least as a theory whose strength lies in its epistemological aspects. Such an understanding is considered in view of the similar concerns and conceptual similarities which systems thinking shares with phenomenology, a consideration which yields two additional aspects of emergent properties. The correspondences seen to exist between systems thinking and phenomenology lead to the conclusion that the two fields taken together illuminate an untapped source for future interdisciplinary research.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.

References

  1. Checkland P (1981). Rethinking a systems approach. J Appl Syst Anal 8: 3–14.

    Google Scholar 

  2. Checkland P (1999). Systems Thinking, Systems Practice—Includes a 30-Year Retrospective. Wiley: Chichester. (First published 1981, without the Retrospective.).

    Google Scholar 

  3. von Bertalanffy L (1950). An outline of general system theory. Br J Philos Sci 1: 134–165.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. von Bertalanffy L (1968). General System Theory: Foundations, Development, Applications. George Braziller: New York.

    Google Scholar 

  5. Forrester JW (1961). Industrial Dynamics. MIT Press: Cambridge.

    Google Scholar 

  6. Hebel M (1999). World-views as the emergent property of human value systems. Syst Res Behav Sci 16: 253–261.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Weinberg GM (1975). An Introduction to General Systems Thinking. Wiley: New York.

    Google Scholar 

  8. Yolles M (1999). Management Systems: A Viable Approach. Financial Times Pitman Publishing: London.

    Google Scholar 

  9. Bergson H (1911). Creative Evolution. (Mitchell A, Trans.) Dover Publications (1998) republication: Mineola. (First published in 1907 as L'Évolution Crèatrice, Presses Universitaires de France, Paris.).

    Google Scholar 

  10. Rosenhead J (ed.) (1989). Rational Analysis for a Problematic World: Problem Structuring Methods for Complexity, Uncertainty and Conflict. Wiley: Chichester.

    Google Scholar 

  11. Husserl E (1970). Logical Investigations I & II. (Findlay JN, Trans.) Humanities Press: New York. (First published in 1900 as Logische Untersuchungen, M. Niemeyer, Halle.).

    Google Scholar 

  12. Sokolowski R (2000). Introduction to Phenomenology. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge.

    Google Scholar 

  13. Husserl E (1973). Experience and Judgment: Investigations in a Genealogy of Logic. (Chuchill JS and Ameriks K, Trans.) Northwestern University Press: Evanston. (First published posthumously in 1948 as Erfahrung und Urteil: Untersuchungen zur Genalogie der Logik, Classen & Goverts, Hamburg.).

    Google Scholar 

  14. Jackson MC (1985). The itinerary of a critical approach. J Opl Res Soc 36: 878–881.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Ulrich W (1983). Critical Heuristics Of Social Planning: A New Approach To Practical Philosophy. Haupt: Bern and Wiley: Chichester.

    Google Scholar 

  16. Ulrich W (1987). Critical Heuristics Of Social Systems Design. In: Flood RL and Jackson MC (eds) (1991) Critical Systems Thinking—Directed Readings. Wiley: Chichester, pp. 103–115.

    Google Scholar 

  17. Ulrich W (1988). C. West Churchman—75 years. Syst Pract 1: 341–350.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Ulrich W (1988). Churchman's ‘process of unfolding’—its significance for policy analysis and evaluation. Syst Pract 1: 415–428.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Ulrich W (1994). Can we secure future-responsive management through systems thinking and design? Interfaces 24: 26–37.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Flood RL and Jackson MC (1991). Creative Problem Solving: Total Systems Intervention. Wiley: Chichester.

    Google Scholar 

  21. Tsoukas H (1992). Panoptic reason and the search for totality: a critical assessment of the critical systems perspective. Hum Relat 45: 637–657.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Midgley G (1992). The sacred and profane in critical systems thinking. Syst Pract 5: 5–16.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Midgley G (1993). A reply to Haridimos Tsoukas, the radical critic of radical critique. Syst Pract 6: 301–309.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Midgley G (1994). Ecology and the poverty of humanism: a critical systems perspective. Syst Res 11: 67–76.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Midgley G (1995). What is this thing called critical systems thinking? In: Ellis K, Gregory A, Mears-Young BR and Ragsdell G (eds). Critical Issues in Systems Theory and Practice. Plenum Press: New York, pp. 61–71.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  26. Midgley G (1997). Mixing methods: developing systemic intervention. In: Mingers, J and Gill A (eds). Multimethodology: The Theory And Practice Of Combining Management Science Methodologies. Wiley: Chichester, pp. 249–290.

    Google Scholar 

  27. Midgley G (1997). Dealing with coercion: critical systems heuristics and beyond. Syst Pract 10: 37–57.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Midgley G (2000). Systemic Intervention: Philosophy, Methodology and Practice. Kluwer Academic Publishers: Dordrecht.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  29. Romm NRA (1995). Knowing as intervention: reflections on the application of systems ideas. Syst Pract 8: 137–167.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. Ormerod R (1997). The design of organisational intervention: choosing the approach. Omega 25: 415–435.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. Clarke S, Lehaney B and Martin S (1997). A review of problem structuring methodologies. Systemist 19: 11–28.

    Google Scholar 

  32. Jackson MC (1995). Beyond the fads: systems thinking for managers. Systems Research 12: 25–42.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  33. Husserl E (1970). The Crisis of European Sciences and Transcendental Phenomenology. (Carr D, Trans.) Northwestern University Press: Evanston (Initially, partly published in 1936 in Philosophia. First published in full posthumously in 1954 as Die Krisis der europäischen Wissenschaften und die transzendentale Phänomenologie: Eine Einleitung in die phänomenologische Philosophie, Martinus Nijhoff, The Hague.).

    Google Scholar 

  34. Heidegger M (1962). Being and Time. (McQuarrie J and Robinson J, Trans.) Blackwell: Oxford. (Originally published in German in 1927 as Sein und Zeil, Erste Hälfte.).

    Google Scholar 

  35. Pietersma H (2000). Phenomenological Epistemology. Oxford University Press: Oxford.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Affiliations

  1. Universidade Estadual do Sudoeste da Bahia, Brazil

    I Georgiou

Authors
  1. I Georgiou
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to I Georgiou.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Georgiou, I. The idea of emergent property. J Oper Res Soc 54, 239–247 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1057/palgrave.jors.2601520

Download citation

Keywords

  • systems thinking
  • emergent property
  • epistemology
  • phenomenology