"Metaphor is for most people a device of the poetic imagination and the rhetorical flourish - a matter of extraordinary rather than ordinary language. Moreover, metaphor is typically viewed as characteristic of language alone, a matter of words rather than thought or action. For this reason, most people think they can get along perfectly well without metaphor. We have found, on the contrary, that metaphor is pervasive in everyday life, not just in language but in thought and action. Our ordinary conceptual system, in terms of which we both think and act, is fundamentally metaphorical in nature." (George Lakoff & Mark Johnson, "Metaphors we Live by", 1980)
"The relations that define a system as a unity, and determine the dynamics of interaction and transformations which it may undergo as such a unity constitute the organization of the machine." (Humberto Maturana, "Autopoiesis and cognition: The realization of the living", 1980)
"[…] there is an external world which can in principle be exhaustively described in scientific language. The scientist, as both observer and language-user, can capture the external facts of the world in propositions that are true if they correspond to the facts and false if they do not. Science is ideally a linguistic system in which true propositions are in one-to-one relation to facts, including facts that are not directly observed because they involve hidden entities or properties, or past events or far distant events. These hidden events are described in theories, and theories can be inferred from observation, that is, the hidden explanatory mechanism of the world can be discovered from what is open to observation. Man as scientist is regarded as standing apart from the world and able to experiment and theorize about it objectively and dispassionately." (Mary B Hesse, "Revolutions and Reconstructions in the Philosophy of Science", 1980)
"Language cannot be studied in isolation from the investigation of ‘rationality’. It cannot afford to neglect our everyday assumptions concerning the total behavior of a reasonable person. […] An integrational linguistics must recognize that human beings inhabit a communicational space which is not neatly compartmentalized into language and nonlanguage. […] It renounces in advance the possibility of setting up systems of forms and meanings which will ‘account for’ a central core of linguistic behavior irrespective of the situation and communicational purposes involved." (Roy Harris, "The Language Myth", 1981)
"The basic idea of cognitive science is that intelligent beings are semantic engines - in other words, automatic formal systems with interpretations under which they consistently make sense. We can now see why this includes psychology and artificial intelligence on a more or less equal footing: people and intelligent computers (if and when there are any) turn out to be merely different manifestations of the same underlying phenomenon. Moreover, with universal hardware, any semantic engine can in principle be formally imitated by a computer if only the right program can be found." (John Haugeland, "Semantic Engines: An introduction to mind design", 1981)
"Heavy dependence on direct observation is essential to biology not only because of the complexity of biological phenomena, but because of the intervention of natural selection with its criterion of adequacy rather than perfection. In a system shaped by natural selection it is inevitable that logic will lose its way." (George A Bartholomew, "Scientific innovation and creativity: a zoologist’s point of view", American Zoologist Vol. 22, 1982)
"If the purpose of scientific methodology is to prescribe or expound a system of enquiry or even a code of practice for scientific behavior, then scientists seem able to get on very well without it." (Sir Peter B Medawar, "Pluto’s Republic: Incorporating the Art of the Soluble and Induction Intuition in Scientific Thought", 1982)
"Mental schemas are not rigid. By lasting and laborious processes the mental schemas accommodate themselves, in the long run, to the features of real situations and become progressively more fit to manage them and to solve the problems with which we are faced. Each period of mental development is characterized by a system. of basic mental schemas which determine the capacity of the child to learn, to interpret, and to use the information he gets." (Efraim Fischbein, "Intuition and Proof", For The Leaning of Mathematics 3 (2), 1982)
"A system is an internally organised whole where elements are so intimately connected that they operate as one in relation to external conditions and other systems. An element may be defined as the minimal unit performing a definite function in the whole. Systems may be either simple or complex. A complex system is one whose elements may also be regarded as systems or subsystems." (Alexander Spirkin, "Dialectical Materialism", 1983)
"But structure is not enough to make a system. A system consists of something more than structure: it is a structure with certain properties. When a structure is understood from the standpoint of its properties, it is understood as a system." (Alexander Spirkin, "Dialectical Materialism", 1983)
"Structure is the type of connection between the elements of a whole. […] . Structure is a composite whole, or an internally organised content. […] Structure implies not only the position of its elements in space but also their movement in time, their sequence and rhythm, the law of mutation of a process. So structure is actually the law or set of laws that determine a system's composition and functioning, its properties and stability." (Alexander Spirkin, "Dialectical Materialism", 1983)
"The two senses of ‘realistic’ act at different levels. The first bears on the relation between the model and the world. The model is realistic if it presents an accurate picture of the situation modelled: it describes the real constituents of the system - the substances and fields that make it up - and ascribes to them characteristics and relations that actually obtain. The second sense bears on the relation between the end model and the mathematics. A fundamental theory must supply a criterion for what is to count as explanatory. Relative to that criterion the model is realistic if it explains the mathematical representation." (Nancy Cartwright, "How the Laws of Physics Lie", 1983)
"To call a model an idealization is to suggest that the model is a simplification of what occurs in reality, usually a simplification which omits some relevant features, such as the extended mass of the planets or, in the example of the circuit model, the resistance in the bypass capacitor. Sometimes the omitted factors make only an insignificant contribution to the effect under study. But that does not seem to be essential to idealizations, especially to the idealizations that in the end are applied by engineers to study real things. In calling something an idealization it seems not so important that the contributions from omitted factors be small, but that they be ones for which we know how to correct. If the idealization is to be of use, when the time comes to apply it to a real system we had better know how to add back the contributions of the factors that have been left out. In that case the use of idealizations does not seem to counter realism: either the omitted factors do not matter much, or in principle we know how to treat them." (Nancy Cartwright, "How the Laws of Physics Lie", 1983)
"Unfortunately, non-chaotic systems are very nearly as scarce as hen’s teeth, despite the fact that our physical understanding of nature is largely based upon their study." (Joseph Ford, "How Random Is a Coin Toss?" Physics Today Vol. 36 (4), 1983)
"Computation offers a new means of describing and investigating scientific and mathematical systems. Simulation by computer may be the only way to predict how certain complicated systems evolve." (Stephen Wolfram, "Computer Software in Science and Mathematics", 1984)
"Dangers lurk in all systems. Systems incorporate the unexamined beliefs of their creators. Adopt a system, accept its beliefs, and you help strengthen the resistance to change." (Frank Herbert, "God Emperor of Dune", 1984)
"Dangers lurk in all systems. Systems incorporate the unexamined beliefs of their creators. Adopt a system, accept its beliefs, and you help strengthen the resistance to change." (Frank Herbert, "God Emperor of Dune", 1984)
"Scientific laws give algorithms, or procedures, for determining how systems behave. The computer program is a medium in which the algorithms can be expressed and applied. Physical objects and mathematical structures can be represented as numbers and symbols in a computer, and a program can be written to manipulate them according to the algorithms. When the computer program is executed, it causes the numbers and symbols to be modified in the way specified by the scientific laws. It thereby allows the consequences of the laws to be deduced." (Stephen Wolfram, "Computer Software in Science and Mathematics", 1984)
"A computer is an interpreted automatic formal system - that is to say, a symbol-manipulating machine. (John Haugeland, "Artificial intelligence: The very idea", 1985)
"Nature is disordered, powerful and chaotic, and through fear of the chaos we impose system on it. We abhor complexity, and seek to simplify things whenever we can by whatever means we have at hand. We need to have an overall explanation of what the universe is and how it functions. In order to achieve this overall view we develop explanatory theories which will give structure to natural phenomena: we classify nature into a coherent system which appears to do what we say it does." (James Burke, "The Day the Universe Changed", 1985)
"[…] paradigms, the core of the culture of science, are transmitted and sustained just as is culture generally: scientists accept them and become committed to them as a result of training and socialization, and the commitment is maintained by a developed system of social control." (Barry Barnes, "Thomas Kuhn", 1985)
"A computer is an interpreted automatic formal system - that is to say, a symbol-manipulating machine. (John Haugeland, "Artificial intelligence: The very idea", 1985)
"Nature is disordered, powerful and chaotic, and through fear of the chaos we impose system on it. We abhor complexity, and seek to simplify things whenever we can by whatever means we have at hand. We need to have an overall explanation of what the universe is and how it functions. In order to achieve this overall view we develop explanatory theories which will give structure to natural phenomena: we classify nature into a coherent system which appears to do what we say it does." (James Burke, "The Day the Universe Changed", 1985)
"[…] paradigms, the core of the culture of science, are transmitted and sustained just as is culture generally: scientists accept them and become committed to them as a result of training and socialization, and the commitment is maintained by a developed system of social control." (Barry Barnes, "Thomas Kuhn", 1985)
"The essential principal property of the adaptive system is its time-varying, self-adjusting performance. The need for such performance may readily be seen by realizing that if a designer develops a system of fixed design which he or she considers optimal, the implications are that the designer has foreseen all possible input conditions, at least statistically, and knows what he or she would like the system to do under each of these conditions." (Bernard Widrow & Samuel D Stearns "Adaptive Signal Processing", 1985)
"Any system that insulates itself from diversity in the environment tends to atrophy and lose its complexity and distinctive nature." (Gareth Morgan, "Images of Organization", 1986)
"Artificial intelligence is based on the assumption that the mind can be described as some kind of formal system manipulating symbols that stand for things in the world. Thus it doesn't matter what the brain is made of, or what it uses for tokens in the great game of thinking. Using an equivalent set of tokens and rules, we can do thinking with a digital computer, just as we can play chess using cups, salt and pepper shakers, knives, forks, and spoons. Using the right software, one system (the mind) can be mapped onto the other (the computer)." (George Johnson, "Machinery of the Mind: Inside the New Science of Artificial Intelligence", 1986)
"Any system that insulates itself from diversity in the environment tends to atrophy and lose its complexity and distinctive nature." (Gareth Morgan, "Images of Organization", 1986)
"Artificial intelligence is based on the assumption that the mind can be described as some kind of formal system manipulating symbols that stand for things in the world. Thus it doesn't matter what the brain is made of, or what it uses for tokens in the great game of thinking. Using an equivalent set of tokens and rules, we can do thinking with a digital computer, just as we can play chess using cups, salt and pepper shakers, knives, forks, and spoons. Using the right software, one system (the mind) can be mapped onto the other (the computer)." (George Johnson, "Machinery of the Mind: Inside the New Science of Artificial Intelligence", 1986)
"For a long time, people have been trying to characterize or define the notion of system. After all, ‘systems’ are supposed to be what System Theory is about. The results so far have been contradictory and unsatisfactory. This confusion at the foundations has led many to conclude that there is no such thing as a ‘system’ and hence to deny that System Theory is about anything. Even those most sympathetic to the notion have difficulties at this level. The very founders of System Theory did not try to say what a system was; and as for System Theory, they characterized it only obliquely, by saying it comprised all studies of interest to more than one discipline. They thereby begged the entire question." (Robert Rosen, "Some comments on systems and system theory", 1986)
"Mental models are the mechanisms whereby humans are able to generate descriptions of system purpose and form, explanations of system functioning and observed system states, and predictions of future system states." (William B Rouse & Nancy M Morris, "On looking into the black box: Prospects and limits in the search for mental models", Psychological Bulletin (3), 1986)
"Science has become a social method of inquiring into natural phenomena, making intuitive and systematic explorations of laws which are formulated by observing nature, and then rigorously testing their accuracy in the form of predictions. The results are then stored as written or mathematical records which are copied and disseminated to others, both within and beyond any given generation. As a sort of synergetic, rigorously regulated group perception, the collective enterprise of science far transcends the activity within an individual brain." (Lynn Margulis & Dorion Sagan, "Microcosmos", 1986)
"Science is human experience systematically extended (by intent, methodology and instrumentation) for the purpose of learning more about the natural world and for the critical empirical testing and possible falsification of all ideas about the natural world. Scientific hypotheses may incorporate only elements of the natural empirical world, and thus may contain no element of the supernatural." (Robert E Kofahl, Correctly Redefining Distorted Science: A Most Essential Task", Creation Research Society Quarterly Vol. 23, 1986)
"Science is not a given set of answers but a system for obtaining answers. The method by which the search is conducted is more important than the nature of the solution. Questions need not be answered at all, or answers may be provided and then changed. It does not matter how often or how profoundly our view of the universe alters, as long as these changes take place in a way appropriate to science. For the practice of science, like the game of baseball, is covered by definite rules." (Robert Shapiro, "Origins: A Skeptic’s Guide to the Creation of Life on Earth", 1986)
"Coherence and harmony in relations and interactions between the members of a human social system are due to the coherence and harmony of their growth in it, in an ongoing social learning which their own social ( linguistic) operation defines and which is possible thanks to the genetic and ontogenetic processes that permit structural plasticity of the members." (Humberto Maturana, "The Tree of Knowledge", 1987)
"One of the features that distinguishes applied mathematics is its interest in framing important questions about the observed world in a mathematical way. This process of translation into a mathematical form can give a better handle for certain problems than would be otherwise possible. We call this the modeling process. It combines formal reasoning with intuitive insights. Understanding the models devised by others is a first step in learning some of the skills involved, and that is how we proceed in this text, which is an informal introduction to the mathematics of dynamical systems." (Edward Beltrami, "Mathematics for Dynamic Modeling", 1987)
"Organization denotes those relations that must exist among the components of a system for it to be a member of a specific class. Structure denotes the components and relations that actually constitute a particular unity and make its organization real." (Humberto Maturana, "The Tree of Knowledge", 1987)
"The dynamics of any system can be explained by showing the relations between its parts and the regularities of their interactions so as to reveal its organization. For us to fully understand it, however, we need not only to see it as a unity operating in its internal dynamics, but also to see it in its circumstances, i.e., in the context to which its operation connects it. This understanding requires that we adopt a certain distance for observation, a perspective that in the case of historical systems implies a reference to their origin. This can be easy, for instance, in the case of man-made machines, for we have access to every detail of their manufacture. The situation is not that easy, however, as regards living beings: their genesis and their history are never directly visible and can be reconstructed only by fragments." (Humberto Maturana, "The Tree of Knowledge", 1987)
"Science doesn't purvey absolute truth. Science is a mechanism. It's a way of trying to improve your knowledge of nature. It's a system for testing your thoughts against the universe and seeing whether they match. And this works, not just for the ordinary aspects of science, but for all of life. I should think people would want to know that what they know is truly what the universe is like, or at least as close as they can get to it." (Isaac Asimov, [Interview by Bill Moyers] 1988)
"Mental models are the mechanisms whereby humans are able to generate descriptions of system purpose and form, explanations of system functioning and observed system states, and predictions of future system states." (William B Rouse & Nancy M Morris, "On looking into the black box: Prospects and limits in the search for mental models", Psychological Bulletin (3), 1986)
"Science has become a social method of inquiring into natural phenomena, making intuitive and systematic explorations of laws which are formulated by observing nature, and then rigorously testing their accuracy in the form of predictions. The results are then stored as written or mathematical records which are copied and disseminated to others, both within and beyond any given generation. As a sort of synergetic, rigorously regulated group perception, the collective enterprise of science far transcends the activity within an individual brain." (Lynn Margulis & Dorion Sagan, "Microcosmos", 1986)
"Science is human experience systematically extended (by intent, methodology and instrumentation) for the purpose of learning more about the natural world and for the critical empirical testing and possible falsification of all ideas about the natural world. Scientific hypotheses may incorporate only elements of the natural empirical world, and thus may contain no element of the supernatural." (Robert E Kofahl, Correctly Redefining Distorted Science: A Most Essential Task", Creation Research Society Quarterly Vol. 23, 1986)
"Science is not a given set of answers but a system for obtaining answers. The method by which the search is conducted is more important than the nature of the solution. Questions need not be answered at all, or answers may be provided and then changed. It does not matter how often or how profoundly our view of the universe alters, as long as these changes take place in a way appropriate to science. For the practice of science, like the game of baseball, is covered by definite rules." (Robert Shapiro, "Origins: A Skeptic’s Guide to the Creation of Life on Earth", 1986)
"Coherence and harmony in relations and interactions between the members of a human social system are due to the coherence and harmony of their growth in it, in an ongoing social learning which their own social ( linguistic) operation defines and which is possible thanks to the genetic and ontogenetic processes that permit structural plasticity of the members." (Humberto Maturana, "The Tree of Knowledge", 1987)
"One of the features that distinguishes applied mathematics is its interest in framing important questions about the observed world in a mathematical way. This process of translation into a mathematical form can give a better handle for certain problems than would be otherwise possible. We call this the modeling process. It combines formal reasoning with intuitive insights. Understanding the models devised by others is a first step in learning some of the skills involved, and that is how we proceed in this text, which is an informal introduction to the mathematics of dynamical systems." (Edward Beltrami, "Mathematics for Dynamic Modeling", 1987)
"Organization denotes those relations that must exist among the components of a system for it to be a member of a specific class. Structure denotes the components and relations that actually constitute a particular unity and make its organization real." (Humberto Maturana, "The Tree of Knowledge", 1987)
"The dynamics of any system can be explained by showing the relations between its parts and the regularities of their interactions so as to reveal its organization. For us to fully understand it, however, we need not only to see it as a unity operating in its internal dynamics, but also to see it in its circumstances, i.e., in the context to which its operation connects it. This understanding requires that we adopt a certain distance for observation, a perspective that in the case of historical systems implies a reference to their origin. This can be easy, for instance, in the case of man-made machines, for we have access to every detail of their manufacture. The situation is not that easy, however, as regards living beings: their genesis and their history are never directly visible and can be reconstructed only by fragments." (Humberto Maturana, "The Tree of Knowledge", 1987)
"Science doesn't purvey absolute truth. Science is a mechanism. It's a way of trying to improve your knowledge of nature. It's a system for testing your thoughts against the universe and seeing whether they match. And this works, not just for the ordinary aspects of science, but for all of life. I should think people would want to know that what they know is truly what the universe is like, or at least as close as they can get to it." (Isaac Asimov, [Interview by Bill Moyers] 1988)
"A system of variables is 'interrelated' if an action that affects or meant to affect one part of the system will also affect other parts of it. Interrelatedness guarantees that an action aimed at one variable will have side effects and long-term repercussions. A large number of variables will make it easy to overlook them." (Dietrich Dorner, "The Logic of Failure: Recognizing and Avoiding Error in Complex Situations", 1989)
"If we want to solve problems effectively […] we must keep in mind not only many features but also the influences among them. Complexity is the label we will give to the existence of many interdependent variables in a given system. The more variables and the greater their interdependence, the greater the system's complexity. Great complexity places high demands on a planner's capacity to gather information, integrate findings, and design effective actions. The links between the variables oblige us to attend to a great many features simultaneously, and that, concomitantly, makes it impossible for us to undertake only one action in a complex system." (Dietrich Dorner, "The Logic of Failure: Recognizing and Avoiding Error in Complex Situations", 1989)
"[…] a model is the picture of the real - a short form of the whole. Hence, a model is an abstraction or simplification of a system. It is a technique by which aspects of reality can be 'artificially' represented or 'simulated' and at the same time simplified to facilitate comprehension." (Laxmi K Patnaik, "Model Building in Political Science", The Indian Journal of Political Science, Vol. 50, No. 2, 1989)
"Science doesn’t purvey absolute truth. Science is a mechanism, a way of trying to improve your knowledge of nature. It’s a system for testing your thoughts against the universe, and seeing whether they match." (Isaac Asimov, [interview with Bill Moyers in The Humanist] 1989)
"[…] a model is the picture of the real - a short form of the whole. Hence, a model is an abstraction or simplification of a system. It is a technique by which aspects of reality can be 'artificially' represented or 'simulated' and at the same time simplified to facilitate comprehension." (Laxmi K Patnaik, "Model Building in Political Science", The Indian Journal of Political Science, Vol. 50, No. 2, 1989)
"Science doesn’t purvey absolute truth. Science is a mechanism, a way of trying to improve your knowledge of nature. It’s a system for testing your thoughts against the universe, and seeing whether they match." (Isaac Asimov, [interview with Bill Moyers in The Humanist] 1989)
"Whenever we axiomitize a real-world system, we always, of necessity, oversimplify. Frequently, the oversimplification will adequately describe the system for the purposes at hand. In many other cases, the oversimplification may seem deceptively close to reality, when in fact it is far wide of the mark. The best hope, of course, is the use of a model adequate to explain observation. However, when we are unable to develop an adequate model, we would generally be well advised to stick with empiricism and axiomatic imprecision." (James R Thompson, "Empirical Model Building", 1989)
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