"A living system, due to its circular organization, is an inductive system and functions always in a predictive manner: what happened once will occur again. Its organization, (genetic and otherwise) is conservative and repeats only that which works. For this same reason living systems are historical systems; the relevance of a given conduct or mode of behavior is always determined in the past." (Humberto Maturana, "Biology of Cognition", 1970)
"In general, one might define a complex of semantic components connected by logical constants as a concept. The dictionary of a language is then a system of concepts in which a phonological form and certain syntactic and morphological characteristics are assigned to each concept. This system of concepts is structured by several types of relations. It is supplemented, furthermore, by redundancy or implicational rules […] representing general properties of the whole system of concepts. […] At least a relevant part of these general rules is not bound to particular languages, but represents presumably universal structures of natural languages. They are not learned, but are rather a part of the human ability to acquire an arbitrary natural language." (Manfred Bierwisch, "Semantics", 1970)
"Living systems are units of interactions; they exist in an ambience. From a purely biological point of view they cannot be understood independently of that part of the ambience with which they interact: the niche; nor can the niche be defined independently of the living system that specifies it." (Humberto Maturana, "Biology of Cognition", 1970)
"The systems approach goes on to discovering that every world-view is terribly restricted." (C West Churchman, 1970)
"[…] as a model of a complex system becomes more complete, it becomes less understandable. Alternatively, as a model grows more realistic, it also becomes just as difficult to understand as the real world processes it represents." (Jay M Dutton & William H Starbuck," Computer simulation models of human behavior: A history of an intellectual technology", IEEE Transactions on Systems, 1971)
"Engineers, as a rule are not and do not pretend to be philosophers in the sense of building up consistent systems of thought following logically from certain premises. If anything, they pride themselves on being hard-headed practical men concerned only with facts, disdaining mere speculation or opinion. In practice, however, engineers do make many assumptions about the nature of the universe, of man, and of society." (Edwin T Layton Jr., "The Revolt of the Engineers", 1971)
"Every word or concept, clear as it may seem to be, has only a limited range of applicability. The incomplete knowledge of a system must be an essential part of every formulation in quantum theory." (Werner Heisenberg, "Physics and Beyond", 1971)
"There is, indeed, a specific fault in our system of science, and in the resultant understanding of the natural world. […] This fault is reductionism, the view that effective understanding of a complex system can be achieved by investigating the properties of its isolated parts. The reductionist methodology, which is so characteristic of much of modern research, is not an effective means of analyzing the vast natural systems that are threatened by degradation." (Barry Commoner, "The Closing Circle: Nature, Man and Technology", 1971)
"However, and conversely, our models fall far short of representing the world fully. That is why we make mistakes and why we are regularly surprised. In our heads, we can keep track of only a few variables at one time. We often draw illogical conclusions from accurate assumptions, or logical conclusions from inaccurate assumptions. Most of us, for instance, are surprised by the amount of growth an exponential process can generate. Few of us can intuit how to damp oscillations in a complex system." (Donella H Meadows, "Limits to Growth", 1972)
"In no system which shows mental characteristics can any part have unilateral control over the whole. In other words, the mental characteristics of the system are imminent, not in some part, but in the system as a whole." (Gregory Bateson, "Steps to an Ecology of Mind", 1972)
"Physics is not a finished logical system. Rather, at any moment it spans a great confusion of ideas, some that survive like folk epics from the heroic periods of the past, and others that arise like utopian novels from our dim premonitions of a future grand synthesis." (Steven Weinberg, "Gravitation and Cosmology: Principles and Applications of the General Theory of Relativity", 1972)
"Technology can relieve the symptoms of a problem without affecting the underlying causes. Faith in technology as the ultimate solution to all problems can thus divert our attention from the most fundamental problem - the problem of growth in a finite system." (Donella A Meadows, "The Limits to Growth", 1972)
"There are two subcategories of holist called irredundant holists and redundant holists. Students of both types image an entire system of facts or principles. Though an irredundant holist's image is rightly interconnected, it contains only relevant and essential constitents. In contrast, redundant holists entertain images that contain logically irrelevant or overspecific material, commonly derived from data used to 'enrich' the curriculum, and these students embed the salient facts and principles in a network of redundant items. Though logically irrelevant, the items in question are of great psychological importance to a 'redundant holist', since he uses them to access, retain and manipulate whatever he was originally required to learn." (Gordon Pask, "Learning Strategies and Individual Competence", 1972)
"A system in one perspective is a subsystem in another. But the systems view always treats systems as integrated wholes of their subsidiary components and never as the mechanistic aggregate of parts in isolable causal relations." (Ervin László, "Introduction to Systems Philosophy", 1972)
"The notion of ‘system’ has gained central importance in contemporary science, society and life. In many fields of endeavor, the necessity of a ‘systems approach’ or ‘systems thinking’ is emphasized, new professions called ‘systems engineering’, ‘systems analysis’ and the like have come into being, and there can be little doubt that this this concept marks a genuine, necessary, and consequential development in science and world-view." (Ervin László, "Introduction to Systems Philosophy: Toward a New Paradigm of Contemporary Thought", 1972)
"And yet, on looking into the history of science, one is overwhelmed by evidence that all too often there is no regular procedure, no logical system of discovery, no simple, continuous development. The process of discovery has been as varied as the temperament of the scientist." (Gerald Holton, "Thematic Origins of Scientific Thought: Kepler to Einstein", 1973)
"Modern scientific principle has been drawn from the investigation of natural laws, technology has developed from the experience of doing, and the two have been combined by means of mathematical system to form what we call engineering." (George S Emmerson, "Engineering Education: A Social History", 1973)
"The system of nature, of which man is a part, tends to be self-balancing, self-adjusting, self-cleansing. Not so with technology." (Ernst F Schumacher, "Small is Beautiful", 1973)
"Science is systematic organisation of knowledge about the universe on the basis of explanatory hypotheses which are genuinely testable. Science advances by developing gradually more comprehensive theories; that is, by formulating theories of greater generality which can account for observational statements and hypotheses which appear as prima facie unrelated." (Francisco J Ayala, "Studies in the Philosophy of Biology: Reduction and Related Problems", 1974)
"A system in one perspective is a subsystem in another. But the systems view always treats systems as integrated wholes of their subsidiary components and never as the mechanistic aggregate of parts in isolable causal relations." (Ervin László, "Introduction to Systems Philosophy", 1972)
"The notion of ‘system’ has gained central importance in contemporary science, society and life. In many fields of endeavor, the necessity of a ‘systems approach’ or ‘systems thinking’ is emphasized, new professions called ‘systems engineering’, ‘systems analysis’ and the like have come into being, and there can be little doubt that this this concept marks a genuine, necessary, and consequential development in science and world-view." (Ervin László, "Introduction to Systems Philosophy: Toward a New Paradigm of Contemporary Thought", 1972)
"And yet, on looking into the history of science, one is overwhelmed by evidence that all too often there is no regular procedure, no logical system of discovery, no simple, continuous development. The process of discovery has been as varied as the temperament of the scientist." (Gerald Holton, "Thematic Origins of Scientific Thought: Kepler to Einstein", 1973)
"Modern scientific principle has been drawn from the investigation of natural laws, technology has developed from the experience of doing, and the two have been combined by means of mathematical system to form what we call engineering." (George S Emmerson, "Engineering Education: A Social History", 1973)
"The system of nature, of which man is a part, tends to be self-balancing, self-adjusting, self-cleansing. Not so with technology." (Ernst F Schumacher, "Small is Beautiful", 1973)
"Science is systematic organisation of knowledge about the universe on the basis of explanatory hypotheses which are genuinely testable. Science advances by developing gradually more comprehensive theories; that is, by formulating theories of greater generality which can account for observational statements and hypotheses which appear as prima facie unrelated." (Francisco J Ayala, "Studies in the Philosophy of Biology: Reduction and Related Problems", 1974)
"When you are confronted by any complex social system […] with things about it that you’re dissatisfied with and anxious to fix, you cannot just step in and set about fixing with much hope of helping. This realization is one of the sore discouragements of our century […] You cannot meddle with one part of a complex system from the outside without the almost certain risk of setting off disastrous events that you hadn’t counted on in other, remote parts. If you want to fix something you are first obliged to understand […] the whole system. […] Intervening is a way of causing trouble." (Lewis Thomas, "The Medusa and the Snail: More Notes of a Biology Watcher", 1974)
"A system can be described either as a transformation of inputs (stimuli) into outputs (responses)-the so-called input-output approach (also referred to as the causal or terminal systems approach), or in reference to the fulfillment of a purpose or the pursuit of a goal-the so-called goal-seeking or decision-making approach." (Mihajlo D Mesarovic & Y Takahara, "Foundations for the mathematical theory of general systems", 1975)
"A system may be specified in either of two ways. In the first, which we shall call a state description, sets of abstract inputs, outputs and states are given, together with the action of the inputs on the states and the assignments of outputs to states. In the second, which we shall call a coordinate description, certain input, output and state variables are given, together with a system of dynamical equations describing the relations among the variables as functions of time. Modern mathematical system theory is formulated in terms of state descriptions, whereas the classical formulation is typically a coordinate description, for example a system of differential equations." (E S Bainbridge, "The Fundamental Duality of System Theory", 1975)
"Is evolution a theory, a system or a hypothesis? It is much more: it is a general condition to which all theories, all hypotheses, all systems must bow and which they must satisfy henceforth if they are to be thinkable and true. Evolution is a light illuminating all facts, a curve that all lines must follow." (Pierre T de Chardin, "The Phenomenon of Man", 1975)
"Synergy means behavior of whole systems unpredicted by the behavior of their parts taken separately." (R Buckminster Fuller, "Synergetics: Explorations in the Geometry of Thinking", 1975)
"Is evolution a theory, a system or a hypothesis? It is much more: it is a general condition to which all theories, all hypotheses, all systems must bow and which they must satisfy henceforth if they are to be thinkable and true. Evolution is a light illuminating all facts, a curve that all lines must follow." (Pierre T de Chardin, "The Phenomenon of Man", 1975)
"Synergy means behavior of whole systems unpredicted by the behavior of their parts taken separately." (R Buckminster Fuller, "Synergetics: Explorations in the Geometry of Thinking", 1975)
"The following four propositions, which appear to the author to be incapable of formal proof, are presented as Fundamental Postulates upon which the entire superstructure of General Systemantics [...] is based [...] (1) Everything is a system. (2) Everything is part of a larger system. (3) The universe is infinitely systematizable, both upward (larger systems) and downward (smaller systems) (4) All systems are infinitely complex. (The illusion of simplicity comes from focusing attention on one or a few variables.)" (John Gall, "Systemantics", 1975)
"The value of a model lies in its substitutability for the real system for achieving an intended purpose." (David I Cleland & William R King, "Systems analysis and project management" , 1975)
"The value of a model lies in its substitutability for the real system for achieving an intended purpose." (David I Cleland & William R King, "Systems analysis and project management" , 1975)
"If all of the elements in a large system are loosely coupled to one another, then any one element can adjust to and modify a local a local unique contingency without affecting the whole system. These local adaptations can be swift, relatively economical, and substantial." (Karl E Weick, "Educational organizations as loosely coupled systems", 1976)
"In a loosely coupled system there is more room available for self-determination by the actors. If it is argued that a sense of efficacy is crucial for human beings. when a sense of efficacy might be greater in a loosely coupled system with autonomous units than it would be in a tightly coupled system where discretion is limited." (Karl E Weick, "Educational organizations as loosely coupled systems", 1976)
"Whenever a system of communication evolves, there is always the danger that some will exploit the system for their own ends." (Richard Dawkins, "The Selfish Gene", 1976)
"For any system the environment is always more complex than the system itself. No system can maintain itself by means of a point-for-point correlation with its environment, i.e., can summon enough 'requisite variety' to match its environment. So each one has to reduce environmental complexity - primarily by restricting the environment itself and perceiving it in a categorically preformed way. On the other hand, the difference of system and environment is a prerequisite for the reduction of complexity because reduction can be performed only within the system, both for the system itself and its environment." (Thomas Luckmann & Niklas Luhmann, "The Differentiation of Society", 1977)
"A model […] is a story with a specified structure: to explain this catch phrase is to explain what a model is. The structure is given by the logical and mathematical form of a set of postulates, the assumptions of the model. The structure forms an uninterpreted system, in much the way the postulates of a pure geometry are now commonly regarded as doing. The theorems that follow from the postulates tell us things about the structure that may not be apparent from an examination of the postulates alone." (Allan Gibbard & Hal R Varian, "Economic Models", The Journal of Philosophy, Vol. 75, No. 11, 1978)
"All mathematical problems are solved by reasoning within a deductive system in which basic laws of logic are embedded." (Martin Gardner, "Aha! Insight", 1978)
"A model […] is a story with a specified structure: to explain this catch phrase is to explain what a model is. The structure is given by the logical and mathematical form of a set of postulates, the assumptions of the model. The structure forms an uninterpreted system, in much the way the postulates of a pure geometry are now commonly regarded as doing. The theorems that follow from the postulates tell us things about the structure that may not be apparent from an examination of the postulates alone." (Allan Gibbard & Hal R Varian, "Economic Models", The Journal of Philosophy, Vol. 75, No. 11, 1978)
"All mathematical problems are solved by reasoning within a deductive system in which basic laws of logic are embedded." (Martin Gardner, "Aha! Insight", 1978)
"All nature is a continuum. The endless complexity of life is organized into patterns which repeat themselves at each level of system." (James G Miller, "Living Systems", 1978)
"Common to both logical positivism and transformational linguistics is their view of language-as-mathematics. Both focus on language as a system of primitive or elementary units which can be combined according to fixed rules. However useful this analogy may be in certain limited ways, it creates problems in understanding how the purely formal system of elements and rules relates to something other than itself. Both create dualistic systems which oppose formal linguistic competence to empirical components." (Stephen A Tyler, "The said and the unsaid: Mind, meaning, and culture", 1978)
"[Human consciousness] depends wholly on our seeing the outside world in such categories. And the problems of consciousness arise from putting reconstitution beside internalization, from our also being able to see ourselves as if we were objects in the outside world. That is in the very nature of language; it is impossible to have a symbolic system without it." (Jacob Bronowski, "The origins of knowledge and imagination", 1978)
"Information is carried by physical entities, such as books or sound waves or brains, but it is not itself material. Information in a living system is a feature of the order and arrangement of its parts, which arrangement provides the signs that constitute a ‘code’ or ‘language’." (John Z Young, "Programs of the Brain", 1978)
"An autopoietic system is organized (defined as a unity) as a network of processes of production (transformation and destruction) of components that produces the components that: (a) through their interactions and transformations continuously regenerate and realize the network of processes (relations) that produce them and, (b) constitute it (the machine) as a concrete unity in the space in which they exist by specifying the topological domain of its realization as such a network." (Francisco Varela, "Principles of Biological Autonomy", 1979)
"Common to both logical positivism and transformational linguistics is their view of language-as-mathematics. Both focus on language as a system of primitive or elementary units which can be combined according to fixed rules. However useful this analogy may be in certain limited ways, it creates problems in understanding how the purely formal system of elements and rules relates to something other than itself. Both create dualistic systems which oppose formal linguistic competence to empirical components." (Stephen A Tyler, "The said and the unsaid: Mind, meaning, and culture", 1978)
"[Human consciousness] depends wholly on our seeing the outside world in such categories. And the problems of consciousness arise from putting reconstitution beside internalization, from our also being able to see ourselves as if we were objects in the outside world. That is in the very nature of language; it is impossible to have a symbolic system without it." (Jacob Bronowski, "The origins of knowledge and imagination", 1978)
"Information is carried by physical entities, such as books or sound waves or brains, but it is not itself material. Information in a living system is a feature of the order and arrangement of its parts, which arrangement provides the signs that constitute a ‘code’ or ‘language’." (John Z Young, "Programs of the Brain", 1978)
"An autopoietic system is organized (defined as a unity) as a network of processes of production (transformation and destruction) of components that produces the components that: (a) through their interactions and transformations continuously regenerate and realize the network of processes (relations) that produce them and, (b) constitute it (the machine) as a concrete unity in the space in which they exist by specifying the topological domain of its realization as such a network." (Francisco Varela, "Principles of Biological Autonomy", 1979)
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