Systems Theory: Difference between revisions
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''' | '''= This is not an attempt to explain systems theory as such, but rather a page with some comments on the relationship between systems theory and more participative epistemologies.''' | ||
URL = http://systemswiki.org/index.php?title=Main_Page | |||
=Limits of Systems Approaches= | =Discussion | ||
==Limits of Systems Approaches== | |||
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'''Holism'''. There can be no holism without the qualities that complexity researchers strip from the world. It is the nature of qualities to interpenetrate one another, and only through such mutual interpenetration can a whole express itself through each of its parts. Without qualities, there are featureless "particles" side by side in changing arrangements, but nothing to make an integral unity of them—nothing to give the assemblage the sort of distinctive, expressive character enabling us to recognize a whole. | '''Holism'''. There can be no holism without the qualities that complexity researchers strip from the world. It is the nature of qualities to interpenetrate one another, and only through such mutual interpenetration can a whole express itself through each of its parts. Without qualities, there are featureless "particles" side by side in changing arrangements, but nothing to make an integral unity of them—nothing to give the assemblage the sort of distinctive, expressive character enabling us to recognize a whole. | ||
'''Emergence'''. When your scientific work repeatedly brings you up against vaguely conceived "emergent" phenomena—phenomena that seem to arise from out of nowhere—you might reasonably wonder whether your models and explanatory mechanisms have omitted something important. While most complexity theorists seem undisturbed by this thought, I have been suggesting above that the omission has in fact been as radical as it could possibly be: what the models tend to leave out is the phenomenal world as such, with all its contingencies and with all its causal, or generative, powers. What the situation requires is a fundamental reconsideration of method. Most importantly, this means a reconsideration of the founding decision within science to ignore qualities, since it turns out that to ignore qualities is to ignore the world. There is no way to get from the sheer abstractions of complexity theory back to the world of phenomena, except by re-introducing qualities "through the back door" when no one is looking—and then exclaiming about the "emergent" wonders that arise. It would be much more sound scientifically to face qualities up front, wrestling through to an understanding of their proper place in the scientific enterprise. | '''Emergence'''. When your scientific work repeatedly brings you up against vaguely conceived "emergent" phenomena—phenomena that seem to arise from out of nowhere—you might reasonably wonder whether your models and explanatory mechanisms have omitted something important. While most complexity theorists seem undisturbed by this thought, I have been suggesting above that the omission has in fact been as radical as it could possibly be: what the models tend to leave out is the phenomenal world as such, with all its contingencies and with all its causal, or generative, powers. What the situation requires is a fundamental reconsideration of method. Most importantly, this means a reconsideration of the founding decision within science to ignore qualities, since it turns out that to ignore qualities is to ignore the world. There is no way to get from the sheer abstractions of complexity theory back to the world of phenomena, except by re-introducing qualities "through the back door" when no one is looking—and then exclaiming about the "emergent" wonders that arise. It would be much more sound scientifically to face qualities up front, wrestling through to an understanding of their proper place in the scientific enterprise." | ||
(http://natureinstitute.org/pub/ic/ic7/complexity.htm ) | (http://natureinstitute.org/pub/ic/ic7/complexity.htm ) | ||
=More Information= | |||
* introduction to complex systems theory, http://www.calresco.org/intro.htm | |||
* Fritjof Capra. The Hidden Connections: A Science for Sustainable Living | |||
* Donella Meadows' Thinking in Systems: A Primer : Meadows gives a very good basic understanding of systems thinking and how to apply the principles to common problems. The examples she gives range from simple and clear to complex and intricate (with systems within systems). Some of the most poignant parts of the book can also be found online at http://www.developerdotstar.com/mag/articles/places_intervene_system.html [http://www.quora.com/Systems-Theory/What-are-the-best-blogs-and-books-to-read-about-systems-theory] | |||
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[[Category:Relational]] | [[Category:Relational]] | ||
[[Category:Intelligence]] | |||
Revision as of 06:06, 19 January 2011
= This is not an attempt to explain systems theory as such, but rather a page with some comments on the relationship between systems theory and more participative epistemologies.
URL = http://systemswiki.org/index.php?title=Main_Page
=Discussion
Limits of Systems Approaches
Why a systems approach is not enough, by Steve Talbott of the Nature Institute
The following are interspersed excerpts only:
“Reductionism. The claim by some complexity researchers to have moved "beyond reductionism" is not justified by the facts. The decisive and damaging act of reduction within conventional science has always been the reduction, in thought, of the qualitative world of phenomena to abstract, machine-like models devoid of qualities. Complexity theorists seem at least as committed to this reduction as any other scientists.
Holism. There can be no holism without the qualities that complexity researchers strip from the world. It is the nature of qualities to interpenetrate one another, and only through such mutual interpenetration can a whole express itself through each of its parts. Without qualities, there are featureless "particles" side by side in changing arrangements, but nothing to make an integral unity of them—nothing to give the assemblage the sort of distinctive, expressive character enabling us to recognize a whole.
Emergence. When your scientific work repeatedly brings you up against vaguely conceived "emergent" phenomena—phenomena that seem to arise from out of nowhere—you might reasonably wonder whether your models and explanatory mechanisms have omitted something important. While most complexity theorists seem undisturbed by this thought, I have been suggesting above that the omission has in fact been as radical as it could possibly be: what the models tend to leave out is the phenomenal world as such, with all its contingencies and with all its causal, or generative, powers. What the situation requires is a fundamental reconsideration of method. Most importantly, this means a reconsideration of the founding decision within science to ignore qualities, since it turns out that to ignore qualities is to ignore the world. There is no way to get from the sheer abstractions of complexity theory back to the world of phenomena, except by re-introducing qualities "through the back door" when no one is looking—and then exclaiming about the "emergent" wonders that arise. It would be much more sound scientifically to face qualities up front, wrestling through to an understanding of their proper place in the scientific enterprise." (http://natureinstitute.org/pub/ic/ic7/complexity.htm )
More Information
- introduction to complex systems theory, http://www.calresco.org/intro.htm
- Fritjof Capra. The Hidden Connections: A Science for Sustainable Living
- Donella Meadows' Thinking in Systems: A Primer : Meadows gives a very good basic understanding of systems thinking and how to apply the principles to common problems. The examples she gives range from simple and clear to complex and intricate (with systems within systems). Some of the most poignant parts of the book can also be found online at http://www.developerdotstar.com/mag/articles/places_intervene_system.html [1]]