Abstract
In the last decade the systems approach to agricultural research has begun to subsume the older reductionist approaches. However, proponents of the systems approach often accept without critical examination a number of features that were inherited from previously accepted approaches. In particular, supporters of the systems approach frequently ignore the ironies and tragedies that are a part of all human endeavors. They may also fail to consider that all actual systems are temporally and spatially bounded. By incorporating such features into a systems perspective, it becomes possible to consider them as involving the manipulation of things, the reconstruction of institutions, and the reformulation of policies in accordance with democratic goals and objectives as part of a single web of interrelationships.
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Lawrence Busch is Professor of Sociology at Michigan State University. His current research focuses on the social, ethical, and political questions surrounding the conservation of plant germplasm. He has published several books and numberous papers on various aspects of domestic and international agricultural research policy.
I would like thank Katherine L. Clancy for her comments on a previous draft of this paper.
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Busch, L. Irony, tragedy, and temporality in agricultural systems, or, how values and systems are related. Agric Hum Values 6, 4–11 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02217808
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02217808