Abstract
The central message of this paper is that methodological pluralism is essential for the continued legitimation of systems science. This statement is supported by a critique of our notion of complexity. Our traditional view of complexity focuses upon the “natural world” of object relations and thereby excludes complexities of moral decision making and subjectivity. However, we are now beginning to realize that these realms of complexity are not independent of one another. Indeed, our ability to cope adequately with many of the problems we are currently facing, especially global problems, depends on being able to understand the systemic relationships between all three. Interestingly, we find that different methods have evolved to handle the different forms of complexity. Therefore, if our inquiries are going to have any legitimacy in tackling some of the major issues of today, we must indeed embrace methodological pluralism.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Ackoff, R. L. (1974). The Systems Revolution.Long Range Plan. 7, 2–20.
Berkeley, G. (1710).The Principles of Human Knowledge, 1962 ed., Warnock, G. J. (ed.), Fontana Press, London.
Bhaskar, R. (1978).A Realist Theory of Science, 2nd ed., Harvester Press, Brighton.
Bhaskar, R. (1979).The Possibility of Naturalism, Harvester Press, Brighton.
Bhaskar, R. (1986).Scientific Realism and Human Emancipation, Verso, London.
Bhaskar, R. (1989).Reclaiming Reality. Verso, London.
Brewer, J., and Hunter, A. (1989).Multimethod Research: A Synthesis of Styles, Sage, London.
Burrell, G. (1983). Review of “Systems Thinking, Systems Practice” by Peter Checkland.J. Appl. Syst. Anal. 10, 121–129.
Checkland, P. B. (1981).Systems Thinking, Systems Practice, John Wiley, Chichester.
Churchman, C. W. (1968).The Systems Approach, Dell, New York.
Fairtlough, G. H. (1989). Systems practice from the start: Some experiences in a biotechnology company.Syst. Pract. 2, 397–417.
Flood, R. L. (1989). Six scenarios for the future of systems “problem solving.”Syst. Pract. 2, 75–99.
Flood, R. L. (1990).Liberating Systems Theory, Plenum, New York.
Flood, R. L., and Carson, E. R. (1988).Dealing with Complexity: An Introduction to the Theory and Practice of Systems Science, Plenum, New York.
Flood, R. L., and Jackson, M. C. (1991).Creative Problem Solving: Total Systems Intervention, Wiley, Chichester.
Forrester, J. W. (1961).Industrial Dynamics, MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass.
Forrester, J. W. (1969).Principles of Systems, Wright-Allen Press, Cambridge, Mass.
Foucault, M. (1972).The Archaeology of Knowledge, Tavistock, London.
Foucault, M. (1980). In Gordon, C. (ed.),Power/Knowledge: Selected Interviews and Other Writings 1972–1977, Harvester Press, Brighton.
Freud, S. (1915).On Meta-Psychology: The Theory of Psychoanalysis, The Pelican Freud Library, Vol. 11 [translated into English by Angela Richards (1957)], Penguin, Harmondsworth.
Giddens, A. (1985). Reason without revolution? Habermas's Theorie des Kommunikativen Handelns. In Bernstein, R. J. (ed.),Habermas and Modernity, Polity Press, Cambridge.
Giddens, A. (1991).Modernity and Self-Identity: Self and Society in the Late Modern Age, Polity Press, Cambridge.
Green, S. M. (1991). Review of “Soft Systems Methodology in Action” by Peter Checkland and Jim Scholes.Syst. Pract. 4, 530–535.
Habermas, J. (1976).Communication and the Evolution of Society (English edition published 1979), Heinemann, London.
Habermas, J. (1984a).The Theory of Communicative Action, Volume One: Reason and the Rationalisation of Society, Polity Press, Cambridge.
Habermas, J. (1984b).The Theory of Communicative Action, Volume Two: The Critique of Functionalist Reason, Polity Press, Cambridge.
Heidegger, M. (1954). Logos. InVorträge und Ausfsätze, 3rd ed. (1967), Günther Neske, Pfullingen.
Heraclitus (6th and 5th Centuries B.C.).The Cosmic Fragments, 1954 ed., Kirk, G. S. (ed.), Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Jackson, M. C. (1982). The nature of soft systems thinking: The work of Churchman, Ackoff and Checkland.J. Appl. Syst. Anal. 9, 17–29.
Jackson, M. C. (1985). Social systems theory and practice: The need for a critical approach.Int. J. Gen. Syst. 10, 135–151.
Jackson, M. C. (1987a). New directions in management science. In Jackson, M. C. and Keys, P. (eds.),New Directions in Management Science, Gower, Aldershot.
Jackson, M. C. (1987b). Present positions and future prospects in management science.Omega 15, 455–466.
Jackson, M. C., and Keys, P. (1984). Towards a system of systems methodologies.J. Operat. Res. Soc. 35, 473–486.
Kant, I. (1787).The Critique of Pure Reason, 2nd ed. (translated by Smith, N. K., and published in 1933), Macmillan, Basingstoke.
Kelly, G. A. (1955).The Psychology of Personal Constructs. Volume One: A Theory of Personality, W. W. Norton, New York.
Kelly, G. A. (1970). A brief introduction to personal construct theory. In Bannister, D. (ed.),Perspectives in Personal Construct Theory, Academic Press, London.
Krell, D. F., and Capuzzi, F. A. (1975). English translation from the original German of Martin Heidegger'sEarly Greek Thinking: The Dawn of Western Philosophy, Harper and Row, San Francisco.
Krishnamurti, J. (1991).Meeting Life, Arkana, London.
McBurney, S. (1990).Ecology into Economics Won't Go: Or, Life is Not a Concept, Green Books, Hartland.
Meadows, D. M. (1980). The unavoidable a priori. In Randers, J. (ed.),Elements of the System Dynamics Method, MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass.
Merleau-Ponty, M. (1962).The Phenomenology of Perception, Routledge and Kegan Paul, London.
Midgley, G. R. (1989a). Critical systems and the problem of pluralism.Cybernet. Syst. 20, 219–231.
Midgley, G. R. (1989b). Critical systems: The theory and practice of partitioning methodologies.Proceedings of the 33rd Annual Meeting of the International Society for General Systems Research (Vol. II), Edinburgh, Scotland, July 2–7, 1989.
Midgley, G. R. (1990a). Review of “Multimethod Research: A Synthesis of Styles,” by John Brewer and Albert Hunter.Syst. Pract. 4, 68–72.
Midgley, G. R. (1990b). Critical systems and methodological pluralism. InToward a Just Society for Future Generations. Volume I: Systems Design, Proceedings of the 34th Annual Meeting of the International Society for the Systems Sciences, Portland, Ore., July 8–13, 1990.
Midgley, G. R. (1992).Unity and Pluralism, Ph.D. thesis, City University, London.
Mingers, J. C. (1984). Subjectivism and soft systems methodology—A critique.J. Appl. Syst. Anal. 11, 85–103.
Patton, M. Q. (1978).Utilization-Focused Evaluation, Sage, Beverly Hills, Calif.
Patton, M. Q. (1987).How to Use Qualitative Methods in Evaluation, Sage, London.
Popper, K. R. (1972).Objective Knowledge, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Roberts, N., Anderson, D., Deal, R., Garet, M., and Shaffer, W. (1983).An Introduction to Computer Simulation: A System Dynamics Approach, Addison-Wesley, Reading, Mass.
Rosenhead, J. (1984). Debating systems methodology: Conflicting ideas about conflict and ideas.J. Appl. Syst. Anal. 11, 79–84.
Shiva, V. (1990). Cry foul, Cry freedom.New Int. No. 206, 20–21.
Ulrich, W. (1983).Critical Heuristics of Social Planning: A New Approach to Practical Philosophy, Haupt, Berne.
Vickers, G. (1965).The Art of Judgement: A Study of Policy Making, Chapman and Hall.
Vittachi, A. (1990). The denial syndrome.New Int. No. 206, 24–25.
Wittgenstein, L. (1958).Philosophical Investigations, 2nd ed. (Anscombe, G. E. M., translator), Basil Blackwell, Oxford.
Wolfensberger, W., and Glenn, L. (1975).PASS 3 Handbook. Program Analysis of Service Systems: A Method for the Quantitative Evaluation of Human Services, National Institute on Mental Retardation, Toronto.
Wolfensberger, W., and Thomas, S. (1983).PASSING: A Method of Evaluating the Quality of Human Services according to the Principle of Normalization. Normalization Criteria and Ratings Manual, 2nd ed., National Institute on Mental Retardation, Toronto.
Wooliston, G. (1991). Will and representation of paradigmatic commensurability. InSystems Science in the 21st Century: Integrating the New Sciences of Complexity in Service of Humans and their Environment, Proceedings of the 35th Annual Meeting of the International Society for the Systems Sciences, Östersund, Sweden, June 14–20, 1991.
Wooliston, G. (1992). Review of “Ecology into Economics Won't Go: Or, Life is Not a Concept” by Stuart McBurney.Syst. Pract. 5, in press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Midgley, G. Pluralism and the legitimation of systems science. Systems Practice 5, 147–172 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01059938
Received:
Revised:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01059938