User:Thomas Mandel/General Systems Theory
General Systems Theory is the title of a book written by Ludwitg von Bertanffy first published in 1968. [1]It is not, however, a book about a theory. Theory is a translation of the original German Theorie which has a meaning closer to the English word "teaching."[2] We will be using the phrase General Systems THeory (GST) throughout this article because that is how it was translated and used in the English languages.
GST is primarily about general principles of systems which can be applied to all systems regardless of their content. When used in this way, system has a general "philosophical" definition which is defined by Bertalanffy as "elements in standing relationship." (ref) Systems such as a system of arrangement, or as a procedure of how to do a particular task, or even "my system" are not the kinds of systems Bertalanffy talked about. He often referred to organismic systems, essentially those systems which integrate the elements resulting in a new and different whole. This aspect is crucial to understanding integrative systems because the new whole will generally have properties that are not found in the constituent parts. One example is liquid water, made of gases. We do not experience those gases, instead we experience their relationship,e.g., the wetness.
Introduction
Systems Everywhere
On the History of Systems Theory
The meaning of General Systems Theory
"We may state as characteristic of modern science that the scheme of isolable units acting in one-way causality has proved to be insufficient. Hence the appearance, in all fields of science, of notions like wholeness, holistic, oraganismic, gestalt, etc., which all signify that, in the last resort, we must think in terms of systems of elements in mutual interaction." [3]
To think in terms of elements in mutual interaction requires a different way of thinking. We usually think in terms of objects or things, on the other hand, to think in terms of interactions would be like thinking in terms of what things are doing. It is this different kind of thinking that enables principles which can apply to different situations, or to different things. A good example is our own DNA which codes for genes. There are 21 different amino acids each one produced by a different "codon". But the "codon" is made of only four different bases It is not the bases themselves that code for the end product, but the various kinds of relationships among them. From four different "elements" as many as 30.000 different proteins have been formed in a typical organism.