Abstract
Systems thinking is presented as the antithesis of “reductionism.” This article—the first in a trilogy which intends to present an ontoepistemological foundation for interpretive systemology—is concerned with understanding the ontoepistemological roots of reductionism. The immediate purpose of such an understanding is to provide an interpretive contrasting context (a counter-ontoepistemology) against which an ontoepistemology for systems thinking can dialectically be drawn (the second and third papers in the trilogy published in this issue ofSystems Practice). The inquiry into the ontoepistemological roots of reductionism leads to the principle of noncontradiction. Such a principle is shown to be the source of the merging together the most fundamental ontological and epistemological principles ruling Western thought. As such, they are shown to have brought about reductionism in modern science. Finally, the “form of essential recursiveness” is put forward as a logical antithetical form with regard to the principle of noncontradiction and which will serve as a logical instrument for developing an ontoepistemology for the systems approach.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Ackoff, R. (1974).Redesigning the Future. A Systems Approach to Societal Problems, Wiley, New York.
Aristotle (1928).The Works of Aristotle, Oxford University Press, London.
Aristotle (1952). Metaphysics. In W. D. Ross (ed., trans.),The Works of Aristotle, Encyclopedia Britannica, Chicago, 1952.
Bertalanffy, L. V. (1968).General System Theory, Penguin, London.
Checkland, P. (1981).Systems Thinking, Systems Practice, Wiley, London.
Churchman, C. W. (1979).The Systems Approach and Its Enemies, Basic Books, New York.
Descartes, R. (1637). Discourse on the method. InPhilosophical Writings, The Open University Press, Middlesex, 1954, pp. 3–57.
Descartes, R. (1642). Meditations on first philosophy. InPhilosophical Writings, The Open University Press, Middlesex, 1954, pp. 59–124.
Descartes, R. (1644). Principles of philosophy. InPhilosophical Writings, The Open University Press, Middlesex, 1954, pp. 181–238.
Descartes, R. (1701). Rules for the direction of the mind. InPhilosophical Writings, The Open University Press, Middlesex, 1954, pp. 151–180.
Fuenmayor, R. (1985).The Ontology and Epistemology of a Systems Approach, Ph.D. thesis, University of Lancaster, Lancaster.
Fuenmayor, R. (1990). Systems thinking and critique. I. What is critique?Syst. Pract. 3, 525–544.
Fuenmayor, R. (1991a). The self-referential structure of an everyday-living situation: A phenomenological ontology for interpretive systemology.Syst. Pract. 4, 449–472.
Fuenmayor, R. (1991b). Truth and openness: An epistemology for interpretive systemology.Syst. Pract. 4, 473–490.
Fuenmayor, R., and López-Garay, H. (1991). The scene for interpretive systemology.Syst. Pract. 4, 401–418.
Gödel, K. (1981).Obras Completas, Alianza Editorial, Madrid.
Hegel, G. (1984).Lógica, Ediciones Orbis, Barcelona.
Heidegger, M. (1962).Being and Time, Blackwell, Oxford.
Heidegger, M. (1967). Modern science metaphysics and mathematics. InBasic Writings, Routledge and Kegan Paul, London, pp. 244–282.
Heidegger, M. (1969).The Essence of Reasons, Northwestern University Press, Evanston, ill.
Heidegger, M. (1975).Early Greek Thinking, Harper & Row, San Francisco.
Kant, I. (1787).Critique of Pure Reason, Macmillan, London, 1929.
López-Garay, H. (1986).A Holistic Interpretive Concept of Systems Design, Ph.D. thesis, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.
Marcovich, M. (1967).Heraclitus: Greek Text with a Short Commentary, Los Andes University Press, Mérida.
Nagel, E., and Newman, J. (1970).El Teorema de Gödel, Editorial Tecnos, Madrid.
Ortega y Gasset, J. (1941).Historia como sistema, Revista de Occidente, Madrid (7th ed., 1975).
Ortega y Gasset, J. (1974).Pasado y parvenir para el hombre actual, Revista de Occidente, Madrid.
Parmenideset al. (1975).Fragmentos, Ediciones Orbis, Barcelona.
Popper, K. (1959).The Logic of Scientific Discovery, Hutchinson & Co., London.
Sartre, J. P. (1958).Being and Nothingness, Methuen, London.
Spencer Brown, G. (1969).Laws of Form, George Allen and Undwing, London.
Varela, F. (1979).Principles of Biological Autonomy, North Holland, New York.
Vickers, G. (1970).Freedom in a Rocking Boat, Penguin Books, London.
Whitehead, A., and Russell, B. (1910).Principia Mathematica, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Fuenmayor, R. The roots of reductionism: A counter-ontoepistemology for a systems approach. Systems Practice 4, 419–448 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01104460
Received:
Revised:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01104460