Abstract
The founders of the general systems movement envisaged the development of a theory articulating and inter-relating the principles underlying the systemic behaviours of all kinds of concrete systems. We call this theory GST* (“g-s-t-star”) to disambiguate it from other uses of the term “GST” prevalent in the literature. GST* is still radically underdeveloped, but its nature can be analysed. GST* is a formal theory, because the principles of GST* would apply across all kinds of systems, that is, GST* would predict behaviours and structures of systems qua systems, without regard for the kind of system under consideration, and hence it is neutral with respect to ontology.
There is a long-standing controversy within the systems community about whether a GST* exists in principle, whether it would be of practical value if it did, and how its principles might be discovered. In this chapter we argue by analogy from the history of science that if a GST* could be developed it would be highly valuable, and show that its existence is predicated on the assumption of a philosophical framework called the General Systems Worldview (GSW). We present an argument that development of the General Systems Worldview can guide us to the discovery of general systems principles for a GST*, and that together GST* and the GSW can ground the development of a powerful General Systems Transdiscipline, now called “General Systemology”.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Adams, K. M., Hester, P. T., Bradley, J. M., Meyers, T. J., & Keating, C. B. (2014). Systems theory as the foundation for understanding systems. Systems Engineering, 17(1), 112–123.
Archer, M. S. (2013). Social morphogenesis. Dordrecht: Springer.
Bahm, A. J. (1967). Organicism: The philosophy of interdependence. International The Philosophical Quarterly, 7(2), 251–284.
Bailey, K. D. (1994). Typologies and taxonomies: An introduction to classification techniques. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Billingham, J. (2014a). GST as a route to new Systemics. Presented at the 22nd European Meeting on Cybernetics and Systems Research (EMCSR 2014), Vienna, Austria. In J. M. Wilby, S. Blachfellner, & W. Hofkirchner (Eds.), EMCSR 2014: Civilisation at the crossroads – Response and responsibility of the Systems Sciences, Book of abstracts (pp. 435–442). Vienna: EMCSR.
Billingham, J. (2014b). In search of GST. Position paper for the 17th conversation of the International Federation for Systems Research on the subject of ‘Philosophical foundations for the modern systems movement’, St. Magdalena, Linz, Austria, 27 April–2 May 2014, pp. 1–4.
Boulding, K. E. (1956a). General systems theory – The skeleton of science. Management Science, 2(3), 197–208.
Boulding, K. E. (1956b). The image: Knowledge in life and society. Ann Arbor, MI: The University of Michigan Press.
Boulding, K. E. (1985). The world as a total system. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
Bunge, M. (1973). How do realism, materialism, and dialectics fare in contemporary science? Reproduced in M. Maher (Ed.). (2001) Scientific realism (pp. 27–41). Amherst: Prometheus. Page references in the present paper refer to the reproduction. In Method, model and matter (pp. 169–185). Dordrecht: Reidel.
Bunge, M. (1977). Ontology I: The furniture of the world. Dordrecht: Reidel.
Bunge, M. (1979). Ontology II: A world of systems. Dordrecht: Reidel.
Bunge, M. (2001). Scientific realism: Selected essays of Mario Bunge. (M. Mahner, Ed.). Prometheus Books.
Bunge, M. (2010). Matter and mind: A philosophical inquiry. New York: Springer.
Bunge, M. (2014). Big questions come in bundles, hence they should be tackled systemically. Systema, 2(2), 4–13.
Cavallo, R. E. (1979). Systems research movement: Characteristics, accomplishments, and current developments. General Systems Bulletin, 9(3), 1–131.
Checkland, P. (1993). Systems thinking, systems practice. New York: Wiley.
Dubrovsky, V. (2004). Toward system principles: General system theory and the alternative approach. Systems Research and Behavioral Science, 21(2), 109–122.
Elohim, J.-L. (2000). A General systems WELTANSCHAUUNG (Worldview). Retrieved January 20, 2016, from http://www.isss.org/weltansc.htm
Flood, R. L., & Robinson, S. A. (1989). Whatever happened to general systems theory? In R. L. Flood, M. C. Jackson, & P. Keys (Eds.), Systems prospects (pp. 61–66). New York: Plenum.
Francois, C. (Ed.). (2004). International encyclopedia of systems and cybernetics. Munich: Saur Verlag.
Francois, C. (2007). Who knows what general systems theory is? Retrieved January 31, 2014, from http://isss.org/projects/who_knows_what_general_systems_theory_is
Friendshuh, L., & Troncale, L. R. (2012, July 15–20). Identifying fundamental systems processes for a general theory of systems. In Proceedings of the 56th annual conference, International Society for the Systems Sciences (ISSS), San Jose State University, 23 pp.
Georgiou, I. (2006). Thinking through systems thinking. New York: Routledge.
Hiebert, P. G. (2008). Transforming worldviews: An anthropological understanding of how people change. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic.
Hofkirchner, W. (2013). Emergent information: A unified theory of information framework. London: World Scientific.
Kant, I., & Gregor, M. J. (1987). Critique of judgment (W. S. Pluhar, Trans.). Indianapolis: Hackett.
Laszlo, E. (1972a). Introduction to systems philosophy: Toward a new paradigm of contemporary thought. New York: Gordon & Breach.
Laszlo, E. (1972b). The systems view of the world: The natural philosophy of the new developments in the sciences. New York: George Braziller.
Laszlo, E. (1994). From GUTs to GETs: Prospects for a unified evolution theory. World Futures, 42(3), 233–239.
Laszlo, E. (1995). The interconnected universe: Conceptual foundations of transdisciplinary unified theory. London: World Scientific Publishing.
Laszlo, E. (1996). The systems view of the world: A holistic vision for our time. Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press.
Laszlo, E. (2004). Science and the Akashic field: An integral theory of everything. Rochester, VT: Inner Traditions.
Laszlo, E. (2006). Science and the reenchantment of the cosmos: The rise of the integral vision of reality. Rochester, VT: Inner Traditions.
Mingers, J. (2014). Systems thinking, critical realism and philosophy: A confluence of ideas. New York: Routledge.
Naugle, D. (2002). Worldview: The history of a concept. Cambridge: Eerdmans.
Pouvreau, D. (2013). The project of “general systemology” instigated by Ludwig von Bertalanffy: Genealogy, genesis, reception and advancement. Kybernetes, 42(6), 851–868.
Pouvreau, D. (2014). On the history of Ludwig von Bertalanffy’s “general systemology”, and on its relationship to cybernetics – Part II: Contexts and developments of the systemological hermeneutics instigated by von Bertalanffy. International Journal of General Systems, 43(2), 172–245.
Psillos, S. (1999). Scientific realism: How science tracks truth. London: Routledge.
Rapoport, A. (1953). Operational philosophy: Integrating knowledge and action. San Francisco: International Society for General Semantics.
Rapoport, A. (1973). Review of Laszló: The systems view of the world. General Systems, XVIII, 189–190.
Rousseau, D. (2011). Minds, souls and nature: A systems-philosophical analysis of the mind-body relationship in the light of near-death experiences (PhD thesis). University of Wales Trinity Saint David, Lampeter, Wales, UK.
Rousseau, D., Billingham, J., Wilby, J. M., & Blachfellner, S. (2016a). In search of general systems theory. Systema Special Issue – General Systems Transdisciplinarity, 4(1), 76–92.
Rousseau, D., Billingham, J., Wilby, J. M., & Blachfellner, S. (2016b). The synergy between general systems theory and the general systems worldview. Systema Special Issue – General Systems Transdisciplinarity, 4(1), 61–75.
Shannon, C. E. (1948). A Mathematical Theory of Communication. Bell Systems Technical Journal, 27(Part 1), 379–423.
Sider, T. (2011). Writing the book of the world. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Simon, H. A. (1996). Alternative views of complexity. In The sciences of the artificial (pp. 169–181). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Sire, J. W. (2004). Naming the elephant: Worldview as a concept. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic.
Sutherland, J. W. (1973). A general systems philosophy for the social and behavioral sciences. New York: George Braziller.
Troncale, L. R. (1978). Linkage propositions between fifty principal systems concepts. In G. J. Klir (Ed.), Applied general systems research (pp. 29–52). New York: Plenum Press.
Troncale, L. R. (1984). What would a general systems theory look like if I bumped into it? General Systems Bulletin, 14(3), 7–10.
Troncale, L. R. (1985). The future of general systems research: Obstacles, potentials, case studies. Systems Research, 2(1), 43–84.
Troncale, L. R. (2009). Revisited: The future of general systems research: Update on obstacles, potentials, case studies. Systems Research and Behavioral Science, 26(5), 553–561.
Vidal, C. (2013, January 5). The beginning and the end: The meaning of life in a cosmological perspective. Free University Brussels. Retrieved from http://arxiv.org/abs/1301.1648
von Bertalanffy, L. (1934). Wandlungen des biologischen Denkens. Neue Jahrbücher Für Wissenschaft Und Jugendbildung, 10, 339–366.
von Bertalanffy, L. (1955). An essay on the relativity of categories. Philosophy of Science, 22(4), 243–263.
von Bertalanffy, L. (1967). Robots, men and minds. New York: Braziller.
Wilby, J. M., Rousseau, D., Midgley, G., Drack, M., Billingham, J., & Zimmermann, R. (2015). Philosophical foundations for the modern systems movement. In M. Edson, G. Metcalf, G. Chroust, N. Nguyen, & S. Blachfellner (Eds.), Systems thinking: New directions in theory, practice and application, proceedings of the 17th conversation of the International Federation for Systems Research, St. Magdalena, Linz, Austria, 27 April–2 May 2014 (pp. 32–42). Linz: SEA-Publications, Johannes Kepler University.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 David Rousseau
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Rousseau, D., Wilby, J., Billingham, J., Blachfellner, S. (2018). The Existence, Nature and Value of General Systems Theory (GST*). In: General Systemology. Translational Systems Sciences, vol 13. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-0892-4_4
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-0892-4_4
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-10-0891-7
Online ISBN: 978-981-10-0892-4
eBook Packages: Economics and FinanceEconomics and Finance (R0)