SherbyNet - /page/wikibook/entry.mu

Micron Document

<!DOCTYPE html>

<title>Systems theory</title>

</head>

<span id="openzim-page-title" class="mw-page-title-main"><span class="mw-page-title-main">Systems theory</span></span>

</h1>

</header>

/* start https://en.wikipedia.org/ */

.mw-parser-output .ambox{border:1px solid #a2a9b1;border-left:10px solid #36c;background-color:#fbfbfb;box-sizing:border-box}.mw-parser-output .ambox+link+.ambox,.mw-parser-output .ambox+link+style+.ambox,.mw-parser-output .ambox+link+link+.ambox,.mw-parser-output .ambox+.mw-empty-elt+link+.ambox,.mw-parser-output .ambox+.mw-empty-elt+link+style+.ambox,.mw-parser-output .ambox+.mw-empty-elt+link+link+.ambox{margin-top:-1px}html body.mediawiki .mw-parser-output .ambox.mbox-small-left{margin:4px 1em 4px 0;overflow:hidden;width:238px;border-collapse:collapse;font-size:88%;line-height:1.25em}.mw-parser-output .ambox-speedy{border-left:10px solid #b32424;background-color:#fee7e6}.mw-parser-output .ambox-delete{border-left:10px solid #b32424}.mw-parser-output .ambox-content{border-left:10px solid #f28500}.mw-parser-output .ambox-style{border-left:10px solid #fc3}.mw-parser-output .ambox-move{border-left:10px solid #9932cc}.mw-parser-output .ambox-protection{border-left:10px solid #a2a9b1}.mw-parser-output .ambox .mbox-text{border:none;padding:0.25em 0.5em;width:100%}.mw-parser-output .ambox .mbox-image{border:none;padding:2px 0 2px 0.5em;text-align:center}.mw-parser-output .ambox .mbox-imageright{border:none;padding:2px 0.5em 2px 0;text-align:center}.mw-parser-output .ambox .mbox-empty-cell{border:none;padding:0;width:1px}.mw-parser-output .ambox .mbox-image-div{width:52px}@media(min-width:720px){.mw-parser-output .ambox{margin:0 10%}}@media print{body.ns-0 .mw-parser-output .ambox{display:none!important}}

/* end https://en.wikipedia.org/ */

</style>

/* start https://en.wikipedia.org/ */

.mw-parser-output .hlist dl,.mw-parser-output .hlist ol,.mw-parser-output .hlist ul{margin:0;padding:0}.mw-parser-output .hlist dd,.mw-parser-output .hlist dt,.mw-parser-output .hlist li{margin:0;display:inline}.mw-parser-output .hlist.inline,.mw-parser-output .hlist.inline dl,.mw-parser-output .hlist.inline ol,.mw-parser-output .hlist.inline ul,.mw-parser-output .hlist dl dl,.mw-parser-output .hlist dl ol,.mw-parser-output .hlist dl ul,.mw-parser-output .hlist ol dl,.mw-parser-output .hlist ol ol,.mw-parser-output .hlist ol ul,.mw-parser-output .hlist ul dl,.mw-parser-output .hlist ul ol,.mw-parser-output .hlist ul ul{display:inline}.mw-parser-output .hlist .mw-empty-li{display:none}.mw-parser-output .hlist dt::after{content:": "}.mw-parser-output .hlist dd::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist li::after{content:" · ";font-weight:bold}.mw-parser-output .hlist dd:last-child::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist dt:last-child::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist li:last-child::after{content:none}.mw-parser-output .hlist dd dd:first-child::before,.mw-parser-output .hlist dd dt:first-child::before,.mw-parser-output .hlist dd li:first-child::before,.mw-parser-output .hlist dt dd:first-child::before,.mw-parser-output .hlist dt dt:first-child::before,.mw-parser-output .hlist dt li:first-child::before,.mw-parser-output .hlist li dd:first-child::before,.mw-parser-output .hlist li dt:first-child::before,.mw-parser-output .hlist li li:first-child::before{content:" (";font-weight:normal}.mw-parser-output .hlist dd dd:last-child::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist dd dt:last-child::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist dd li:last-child::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist dt dd:last-child::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist dt dt:last-child::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist dt li:last-child::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist li dd:last-child::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist li dt:last-child::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist li li:last-child::after{content:")";font-weight:normal}.mw-parser-output .hlist ol{counter-reset:listitem}.mw-parser-output .hlist ol>li{counter-increment:listitem}.mw-parser-output .hlist ol>li::before{content:" "counter(listitem)"\a0 "}.mw-parser-output .hlist dd ol>li:first-child::before,.mw-parser-output .hlist dt ol>li:first-child::before,.mw-parser-output .hlist li ol>li:first-child::before{content:" ("counter(listitem)"\a0 "}

/* end https://en.wikipedia.org/ */

</style><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1246091330">

/* start https://en.wikipedia.org/ */

.mw-parser-output .sidebar{width:22em;float:right;clear:right;margin:0.5em 0 1em 1em;background:var(--background-color-neutral-subtle,#f8f9fa);border:1px solid var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1);padding:0.2em;text-align:center;line-height:1.4em;font-size:88%;border-collapse:collapse;display:table}body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .sidebar{display:table!important;float:right!important;margin:0.5em 0 1em 1em!important}.mw-parser-output .sidebar-subgroup{width:100%;margin:0;border-spacing:0}.mw-parser-output .sidebar-left{float:left;clear:left;margin:0.5em 1em 1em 0}.mw-parser-output .sidebar-none{float:none;clear:both;margin:0.5em 1em 1em 0}.mw-parser-output .sidebar-outer-title{padding:0 0.4em 0.2em;font-size:125%;line-height:1.2em;font-weight:bold}.mw-parser-output .sidebar-top-image{padding:0.4em}.mw-parser-output .sidebar-top-caption,.mw-parser-output .sidebar-pretitle-with-top-image,.mw-parser-output .sidebar-caption{padding:0.2em 0.4em 0;line-height:1.2em}.mw-parser-output .sidebar-pretitle{padding:0.4em 0.4em 0;line-height:1.2em}.mw-parser-output .sidebar-title,.mw-parser-output .sidebar-title-with-pretitle{padding:0.2em 0.8em;font-size:145%;line-height:1.2em}.mw-parser-output .sidebar-title-with-pretitle{padding:0.1em 0.4em}.mw-parser-output .sidebar-image{padding:0.2em 0.4em 0.4em}.mw-parser-output .sidebar-heading{padding:0.1em 0.4em}.mw-parser-output .sidebar-content{padding:0 0.5em 0.4em}.mw-parser-output .sidebar-content-with-subgroup{padding:0.1em 0.4em 0.2em}.mw-parser-output .sidebar-above,.mw-parser-output .sidebar-below{padding:0.3em 0.8em;font-weight:bold}.mw-parser-output .sidebar-collapse .sidebar-above,.mw-parser-output .sidebar-collapse .sidebar-below{border-top:1px solid #aaa;border-bottom:1px solid #aaa}.mw-parser-output .sidebar-navbar{text-align:right;font-size:115%;padding:0 0.4em 0.4em}.mw-parser-output .sidebar-list-title{padding:0 0.4em;text-align:left;font-weight:bold;line-height:1.6em;font-size:105%}.mw-parser-output .sidebar-list-title-c{padding:0 0.4em;text-align:center;margin:0 3.3em}@media(max-width:640px){body.mediawiki .mw-parser-output .sidebar{width:100%!important;clear:both;float:none!important;margin-left:0!important;margin-right:0!important}}body.skin--responsive .mw-parser-output .sidebar a>img{max-width:none!important}@media screen{html.skin-theme-clientpref-night .mw-parser-output .sidebar:not(.notheme) .sidebar-list-title,html.skin-theme-clientpref-night .mw-parser-output .sidebar:not(.notheme) .sidebar-title-with-pretitle{background:transparent!important}html.skin-theme-clientpref-night .mw-parser-output .sidebar:not(.notheme) .sidebar-title-with-pretitle a{color:var(--color-progressive)!important}}@media screen and (prefers-color-scheme:dark){html.skin-theme-clientpref-os .mw-parser-output .sidebar:not(.notheme) .sidebar-list-title,html.skin-theme-clientpref-os .mw-parser-output .sidebar:not(.notheme) .sidebar-title-with-pretitle{background:transparent!important}html.skin-theme-clientpref-os .mw-parser-output .sidebar:not(.notheme) .sidebar-title-with-pretitle a{color:var(--color-progressive)!important}}@media print{body.ns-0 .mw-parser-output .sidebar{display:none!important}}

/* end https://en.wikipedia.org/ */

</style><table class="sidebar sidebar-collapse nomobile nowraplinks"><tbody><tr><th class="sidebar-title"><a href="Complex_system" title="Complex system">Complex systems</a></th></tr><tr><th class="sidebar-heading">

Topics</th></tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content">

<div class="sidebar-list mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"><div class="sidebar-list-title" style="background:transparent;border-top:1px solid #aaa;text-align:center;;color: var(--color-base)"><a href="Self-organization" title="Self-organization">Self-organization</a></div><div class="sidebar-list-content mw-collapsible-content"><a href="Emergence" title="Emergence">Emergence</a><br></div></div></td>

</tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content">

<div class="sidebar-list mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"><div class="sidebar-list-title" style="background:transparent;border-top:1px solid #aaa;text-align:center;;color: var(--color-base)"><a href="Collective_behavior" title="Collective behavior">Collective behavior</a></div><div class="sidebar-list-content mw-collapsible-content"><a href="Social_dynamics" title="Social dynamics">Social dynamics</a><br>

<p><a href="Collective_intelligence" title="Collective intelligence">Collective intelligence</a><br>

<a href="Collective_action" title="Collective action">Collective action</a><br>

<a href="Self-organized_criticality" title="Self-organized criticality">Self-organized criticality</a><br>

<a href="Herd_mentality" title="Herd mentality">Herd mentality</a><br>

<a href="Phase_transition" title="Phase transition">Phase transition</a><br>

<a href="Agent-based_model" title="Agent-based model">Agent-based modelling</a><br>

<a href="Synchronization" title="Synchronization">Synchronization</a><br>

<a href="Ant_colony_optimization_algorithms" title="Ant colony optimization algorithms">Ant colony optimization</a><br>

<a href="Particle_swarm_optimization" title="Particle swarm optimization">Particle swarm optimization</a><br>

<a href="Swarm_behaviour" title="Swarm behaviour">Swarm behaviour</a><br>

</p>

<a href="Collective_consciousness" title="Collective consciousness">Collective consciousness</a><br></div></div></td>

</tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content">

<div class="sidebar-list mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"><div class="sidebar-list-title" style="background:transparent;border-top:1px solid #aaa;text-align:center;;color: var(--color-base)"><a href="Network_science" title="Network science">Networks</a></div><div class="sidebar-list-content mw-collapsible-content"><a href="Scale-free_network" title="Scale-free network">Scale-free networks</a><br>

<p><a href="Social_network_analysis" title="Social network analysis">Social network analysis</a><br>

<a href="Small-world_network" title="Small-world network">Small-world networks</a><br>

<a href="Centrality" title="Centrality">Centrality</a><br>

<a href="Network_motif" title="Network motif">Motifs</a><br>

<a href="Graph_theory" title="Graph theory">Graph theory</a><br>

<a href="Scalability" title="Scalability">Scaling</a><br>

<a href="Robustness_(computer_science)" title="Robustness (computer science)">Robustness</a><br>

<a href="Systems_biology" title="Systems biology">Systems biology</a><br>

<a href="Dynamic_network_analysis" title="Dynamic network analysis">Dynamic networks</a><br>

</p>

<a href="Complex_adaptive_system" title="Complex adaptive system">Adaptive networks</a></div></div></td>

</tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content">

<div class="sidebar-list mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"><div class="sidebar-list-title" style="background:transparent;border-top:1px solid #aaa;text-align:center;;color: var(--color-base)"><a href="Evolution" title="Evolution">Evolution</a> and <a href="Adaptation" title="Adaptation">adaptation</a></div><div class="sidebar-list-content mw-collapsible-content"><a href="Neural_network_(machine_learning)" title="Neural network (machine learning)">Artificial neural network</a><br>

<p><a href="Evolutionary_computation" title="Evolutionary computation">Evolutionary computation</a><br>

<a href="Genetic_algorithm" title="Genetic algorithm">Genetic algorithms</a><br>

<a href="Genetic_programming" title="Genetic programming">Genetic programming</a><br>

<a href="Artificial_life" title="Artificial life">Artificial life</a><br>

<a href="Machine_learning" title="Machine learning">Machine learning</a><br>

<a href="Evolutionary_developmental_biology" title="Evolutionary developmental biology">Evolutionary developmental biology</a><br>

<a href="Artificial_intelligence" title="Artificial intelligence">Artificial intelligence</a><br>

<a href="Evolutionary_robotics" title="Evolutionary robotics">Evolutionary robotics</a><br>

</p>

<a href="Evolvability" title="Evolvability">Evolvability</a></div></div></td>

</tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content">

<div class="sidebar-list mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"><div class="sidebar-list-title" style="background:transparent;border-top:1px solid #aaa;text-align:center;;color: var(--color-base)"><a href="Pattern_formation" title="Pattern formation">Pattern formation</a></div><div class="sidebar-list-content mw-collapsible-content"><a href="Fractal" title="Fractal">Fractals</a><br>

<p><a href="Reaction%E2%80%93diffusion_system" title="Reaction–diffusion system">Reaction–diffusion systems</a><br>

<a href="Partial_differential_equation" title="Partial differential equation">Partial differential equations</a><br>

<a href="Dissipative_system" title="Dissipative system">Dissipative structures</a><br>

<a href="Percolation" title="Percolation">Percolation</a><br>

<a href="Cellular_automaton" title="Cellular automaton">Cellular automata</a><br>

<a href="Spatial_ecology" title="Spatial ecology">Spatial ecology</a><br>

<a href="Self-replication" title="Self-replication">Self-replication</a><br>

</p>

<a href="Geomorphology" title="Geomorphology">Geomorphology</a></div></div></td>

</tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content">

<div class="sidebar-list mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"><div class="sidebar-list-title" style="background:transparent;border-top:1px solid #aaa;text-align:center;;color: var(--color-base)"> and <a href="Cybernetics" title="Cybernetics">cybernetics</a></div><div class="sidebar-list-content mw-collapsible-content"><a href="Autopoiesis" title="Autopoiesis">Autopoiesis</a><br>

<p><a href="Conversation_theory" title="Conversation theory">Conversation theory</a><br>

<a href="Entropy" title="Entropy">Entropy</a><br>

<a href="Feedback" title="Feedback">Feedback</a> <br>

<a href="Goal_orientation" title="Goal orientation">Goal-oriented</a><br>

<a href="Homeostasis" title="Homeostasis">Homeostasis</a> <br>

<a href="Information_theory" title="Information theory">Information theory</a><br>

<a href="Operationalization" title="Operationalization">Operationalization</a><br>

<a href="Second-order_cybernetics" title="Second-order cybernetics">Second-order cybernetics</a><br>

<a href="Self-reference" title="Self-reference">Self-reference</a><br>

<a href="System_dynamics" title="System dynamics">System dynamics</a><br>

<a href="Systems_science" title="Systems science">Systems science</a><br>

<a href="Systems_thinking" title="Systems thinking">Systems thinking</a><br>

<a href="Sensemaking" title="Sensemaking">Sensemaking</a><br>

<a href="Variety_(cybernetics)" title="Variety (cybernetics)">Variety</a><br>

</p>

<a href="Theory_of_computation" title="Theory of computation">Theory of computation</a><br></div></div></td>

</tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content">

<div class="sidebar-list mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"><div class="sidebar-list-title" style="background:transparent;border-top:1px solid #aaa;text-align:center;;color: var(--color-base)"><a href="Nonlinear_dynamics" class="mw-redirect" title="Nonlinear dynamics">Nonlinear dynamics</a></div><div class="sidebar-list-content mw-collapsible-content"><a href="Time_series" title="Time series">Time series analysis</a><br>

<p><a href="Ordinary_differential_equation" title="Ordinary differential equation">Ordinary differential equations</a><br>

<a href="Phase_space" title="Phase space">Phase space</a><br>

<a href="Attractor" title="Attractor">Attractors</a><br>

<a href="Population_dynamics" title="Population dynamics">Population dynamics</a><br>

<a href="Chaos_theory" title="Chaos theory">Chaos</a><br>

<a href="Multistability" title="Multistability">Multistability</a><br>

<a href="Bifurcation_theory" title="Bifurcation theory">Bifurcation</a><br>

</p>

<a href="Coupled_map_lattice" title="Coupled map lattice">Coupled map lattices</a></div></div></td>

</tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content">

<div class="sidebar-list mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"><div class="sidebar-list-title" style="background:transparent;border-top:1px solid #aaa;text-align:center;;color: var(--color-base)"><a href="Game_theory" title="Game theory">Game theory</a></div><div class="sidebar-list-content mw-collapsible-content"><a href="Prisoner's_dilemma" title="Prisoner's dilemma">Prisoner's dilemma</a><br>

<p><a href="Rational_choice_model" title="Rational choice model">Rational choice theory</a><br>

<a href="Bounded_rationality" title="Bounded rationality">Bounded rationality</a><br>

</p>

<a href="Evolutionary_game_theory" title="Evolutionary game theory">Evolutionary game theory</a><br></div></div></td>

</tr><tr><td class="sidebar-navbar"><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1239400231">

/* start https://en.wikipedia.org/ */

.mw-parser-output .navbar{display:inline;font-size:88%;font-weight:normal}.mw-parser-output .navbar-collapse{float:left;text-align:left}.mw-parser-output .navbar-boxtext{word-spacing:0}.mw-parser-output .navbar ul{display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;line-height:inherit}.mw-parser-output .navbar-brackets::before{margin-right:-0.125em;content:"[ "}.mw-parser-output .navbar-brackets::after{margin-left:-0.125em;content:" ]"}.mw-parser-output .navbar li{word-spacing:-0.125em}.mw-parser-output .navbar a>span,.mw-parser-output .navbar a>abbr{text-decoration:inherit}.mw-parser-output .navbar-mini abbr{font-variant:small-caps;border-bottom:none;text-decoration:none;cursor:inherit}.mw-parser-output .navbar-ct-full{font-size:114%;margin:0 7em}.mw-parser-output .navbar-ct-mini{font-size:114%;margin:0 4em}html.skin-theme-clientpref-night .mw-parser-output .navbar li a abbr{color:var(--color-base)!important}@media(prefers-color-scheme:dark){html.skin-theme-clientpref-os .mw-parser-output .navbar li a abbr{color:var(--color-base)!important}}@media print{.mw-parser-output .navbar{display:none!important}}

/* end https://en.wikipedia.org/ */

</style></td></tr></tbody></table>

<p><b>Systems theory</b> is the <a href="Transdisciplinarity" title="Transdisciplinarity">transdisciplinary</a><sup id="cite_ref-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-1"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>1<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> study of <a href="System" title="System">systems</a>, i.e. cohesive groups of interrelated, interdependent components that can be <a href="Natural" class="mw-redirect" title="Natural">natural</a> or <a href="Artificial" class="mw-redirect" title="Artificial">artificial</a>. Every system has causal boundaries, is influenced by its context, defined by its structure, function and role, and expressed through its relations with other systems. A system is "more than the sum of its parts" when it expresses <a href="Synergy" title="Synergy">synergy</a> or <a href="Emergent_behavior" class="mw-redirect" title="Emergent behavior">emergent behavior</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-2" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-2"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>2<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>

</p><p>Changing one component of a system may affect other components or the whole system. It may be possible to predict these changes in patterns of behavior. For systems that learn and adapt, the growth and the degree of <a href="Adaptation" title="Adaptation">adaptation</a> depend upon how well the system is engaged with its environment and other contexts influencing its organization. Some systems support other systems, maintaining the other system to prevent failure. The goals of systems theory are to model a system's dynamics, <a href="Theory_of_constraints" title="Theory of constraints">constraints</a>, conditions, and relations; and to elucidate principles (such as purpose, measure, methods, tools) that can be discerned and applied to other systems at every level of nesting, and in a wide range of fields for achieving optimized <a href="Equifinality" title="Equifinality">equifinality</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-3" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-3"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>3<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>

</p><p>General systems theory is about developing broadly applicable concepts and principles, as opposed to concepts and principles specific to one domain of knowledge. It distinguishes dynamic or active systems from static or passive systems. Active systems are activity structures or components that interact in behaviours and processes or interrelate through formal contextual boundary conditions (attractors). Passive systems are structures and components that are being processed. For example, a computer program is passive when it is a file stored on the hard drive and active when it runs in memory.<sup id="cite_ref-4" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-4"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>4<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> The field is related to <a href="Systems_thinking" title="Systems thinking">systems thinking</a>, machine logic, and <a href="Systems_engineering" title="Systems engineering">systems engineering</a>.

</p>

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Overview">Overview</h2></div>

<p>Systems theory is manifest in the work of practitioners in many disciplines, for example the works of physician <a href="Alexander_Bogdanov" title="Alexander Bogdanov">Alexander Bogdanov</a>, biologist <a href="Ludwig_von_Bertalanffy" title="Ludwig von Bertalanffy">Ludwig von Bertalanffy</a>, linguist <a href="B%C3%A9la_H._B%C3%A1n%C3%A1thy" title="Béla H. Bánáthy">Béla H. Bánáthy</a>, and sociologist <a href="Talcott_Parsons" title="Talcott Parsons">Talcott Parsons</a>; in the study of ecological systems by <a href="Howard_T._Odum" title="Howard T. Odum">Howard T. Odum</a>, <a href="Eugene_Odum" title="Eugene Odum">Eugene Odum</a>; in <a href="Fritjof_Capra" title="Fritjof Capra">Fritjof Capra</a>'s study of <a href="Organizational_theory" title="Organizational theory">organizational theory</a>; in the study of <a href="Management" title="Management">management</a> by <a href="Peter_Senge" title="Peter Senge">Peter Senge</a>; in interdisciplinary areas such as <a href="Human_Resource_Development" class="mw-redirect" title="Human Resource Development">human resource development</a> in the works of <a href="Richard_A._Swanson" title="Richard A. Swanson">Richard A. Swanson</a>; and in the works of educators <a href="Debora_Hammond" title="Debora Hammond">Debora Hammond</a> and Alfonso Montuori.

</p><p>As a <a href="Transdisciplinarity" title="Transdisciplinarity">transdisciplinary</a>, interdisciplinary, and <a href="Multiperspectivalism" title="Multiperspectivalism">multiperspectival</a> endeavor, systems theory brings together principles and concepts from <a href="Ontology" title="Ontology">ontology</a>, the <a href="Philosophy_of_science" title="Philosophy of science">philosophy of science</a>, <a href="Physics" title="Physics">physics</a>, <a href="Computer_science" title="Computer science">computer science</a>, <a href="Biology" title="Biology">biology</a>, and <a href="Engineering" title="Engineering">engineering</a>, as well as <a href="Geography" title="Geography">geography</a>, <a href="Sociology" title="Sociology">sociology</a>, <a href="Political_science" title="Political science">political science</a>, <a href="Psychotherapy" title="Psychotherapy">psychotherapy</a> (especially <a href="Family_systems_therapy" class="mw-redirect" title="Family systems therapy">family systems therapy</a>), and <a href="Economics" title="Economics">economics</a>.

</p><p>Systems theory promotes dialogue between autonomous areas of study as well as within <a href="Systems_science" title="Systems science">systems science</a> itself. In this respect, with the possibility of misinterpretations, von Bertalanffy<sup id="cite_ref-5" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-5"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>5<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> believed a general theory of systems "should be an important regulative device in science," to guard against superficial analogies that "are useless in science and harmful in their practical consequences."

</p><p>Others remain closer to the direct systems concepts developed by the original systems theorists. For example, <a href="Ilya_Prigogine" title="Ilya Prigogine">Ilya Prigogine</a>, of <a href="The_Center_for_Complex_Quantum_Systems" class="mw-redirect" title="The Center for Complex Quantum Systems">the Center for Complex Quantum Systems</a> at the <a href="University_of_Texas" class="mw-redirect" title="University of Texas">University of Texas</a>, has studied <a href="Emergence" title="Emergence">emergent properties</a>, suggesting that they offer <a href="Analogy" title="Analogy">analogues</a> for <a href="Life" title="Life">living systems</a>. The <a href="Distinction_(philosophy)" title="Distinction (philosophy)">distinction</a> of <a href="Autopoiesis" title="Autopoiesis">autopoiesis</a> as made by <a href="Humberto_Maturana" title="Humberto Maturana">Humberto Maturana</a> and <a href="Francisco_Varela" title="Francisco Varela">Francisco Varela</a> represent further developments in this field. Important names in contemporary systems science include <a href="Russell_Ackoff" class="mw-redirect" title="Russell Ackoff">Russell Ackoff</a>, <a href="Ruzena_Bajcsy" title="Ruzena Bajcsy">Ruzena Bajcsy</a>, <a href="B%C3%A9la_H._B%C3%A1n%C3%A1thy" title="Béla H. Bánáthy">Béla H. Bánáthy</a>, <a href="Gregory_Bateson" title="Gregory Bateson">Gregory Bateson</a>, <a href="Anthony_Stafford_Beer" class="mw-redirect" title="Anthony Stafford Beer">Anthony Stafford Beer</a>, <a href="Peter_Checkland" title="Peter Checkland">Peter Checkland</a>, <a href="Barbara_Grosz" class="mw-redirect" title="Barbara Grosz">Barbara Grosz</a>, <a href="Brian_Wilson_(systems_scientist)" title="Brian Wilson (systems scientist)">Brian Wilson</a>, <a href="Robert_L._Flood" title="Robert L. Flood">Robert L. Flood</a>, <a href="Allenna_Leonard" title="Allenna Leonard">Allenna Leonard</a>, <a href="Radhika_Nagpal" title="Radhika Nagpal">Radhika Nagpal</a>, <a href="Fritjof_Capra" title="Fritjof Capra">Fritjof Capra</a>, <a href="Warren_McCulloch" class="mw-redirect" title="Warren McCulloch">Warren McCulloch</a>, <a href="Kathleen_Carley" title="Kathleen Carley">Kathleen Carley</a>, <a href="Michael_C._Jackson" class="mw-redirect" title="Michael C. Jackson">Michael C. Jackson</a>, <a href="Katia_Sycara" title="Katia Sycara">Katia Sycara</a>, and <a href="Edgar_Morin" title="Edgar Morin">Edgar Morin</a> among others.

</p><p>With the modern foundations for a general theory of systems following World War I, <a href="Ervin_L%C3%A1szl%C3%B3" title="Ervin László">Ervin László</a>, in the preface for Bertalanffy's book, <i>Perspectives on General System Theory</i>, points out that the <a href="Translation" title="Translation">translation</a> of "general system theory" from German into English has "wrought a certain amount of havoc":<sup id="cite_ref-:1_6-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-:1-6"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>6<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>

</p>

/* start https://en.wikipedia.org/ */

.mw-parser-output .templatequote{overflow:hidden;margin:1em 0;padding:0 32px}.mw-parser-output .templatequotecite{line-height:1.5em;text-align:left;margin-top:0}@media(min-width:500px){.mw-parser-output .templatequotecite{padding-left:1.6em}}

/* end https://en.wikipedia.org/ */

</style><blockquote class="templatequote"><p>It (General System Theory) was criticized as pseudoscience and said to be nothing more than an admonishment to attend to things in a holistic way. Such criticisms would have lost their point had it been recognized that von Bertalanffy's general system theory is a perspective or paradigm, and that such basic conceptual frameworks play a key role in the development of exact scientific theory. .. Allgemeine Systemtheorie is not directly consistent with an interpretation often put on 'general system theory,' to wit, that it is a (scientific) "theory of general systems." To criticize it as such is to shoot at straw men. Von Bertalanffy opened up something much broader and of much greater significance than a single theory (which, as we now know, can always be falsified and has usually an ephemeral existence): he created a new paradigm for the development of theories.</p></blockquote>

<p>Theorie (or <i>Lehre</i>) "has a much broader meaning in German than the closest English words 'theory' and 'science'," just as <i><a href="Wissenschaft" title="Wissenschaft">Wissenschaft</a></i> (or 'Science').<sup id="cite_ref-:1_6-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-:1-6"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>6<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> These ideas refer to an organized body of knowledge and "any systematically presented set of concepts, whether <a href="Empirically" class="mw-redirect" title="Empirically">empirically</a>, <a href="Axiomatically" class="mw-redirect" title="Axiomatically">axiomatically</a>, or <a href="Philosophical" class="mw-redirect" title="Philosophical">philosophically</a>" represented, while many associate <i>Lehre</i> with theory and science in the etymology of general systems, though it also does not translate from the German very well; its "closest equivalent" translates to 'teaching', but "sounds dogmatic and off the mark."<sup id="cite_ref-:1_6-2" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-:1-6"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>6<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> An adequate overlap in meaning is found within the word "<a href="Nomothetic" title="Nomothetic">nomothetic</a>", which can mean "having the capability to posit long-lasting sense." While the idea of a "general systems theory" might have lost many of its root meanings in the translation, by defining a new way of thinking about science and <a href="Paradigm" title="Paradigm">scientific paradigms</a>, systems theory became a widespread term used for instance to describe the interdependence of relationships created in <a href="Organization" title="Organization">organizations</a>.

</p><p>A system in this frame of reference can contain regularly interacting or interrelating groups of activities. For example, in noting the influence in the evolution of "an individually oriented <a href="Industrial_psychology" class="mw-redirect" title="Industrial psychology">industrial psychology</a> [into] a systems and developmentally oriented <a href="Industrial_and_organizational_psychology" title="Industrial and organizational psychology">organizational psychology</a>," some theorists recognize that organizations have complex social systems; separating the parts from the whole reduces the overall effectiveness of organizations.<sup id="cite_ref-Schein_7-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Schein-7"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>7<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> This difference, from conventional models that center on individuals, structures, departments and units, separates in part from the whole, instead of recognizing the interdependence between groups of individuals, structures and processes that enable an organization to function.

</p><p>László explains that the new systems view of organized complexity went "one step beyond the Newtonian view of organized simplicity" which reduced the parts from the whole, or understood the whole without relation to the parts. The relationship between organisations and their <a href="Environment_(systems)" class="mw-redirect" title="Environment (systems)">environments</a> can be seen as the foremost source of complexity and interdependence. In most cases, the whole has properties that cannot be known from analysis of the constituent elements in isolation.<sup id="cite_ref-8" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-8"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>8<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>

</p><p><a href="B%C3%A9la_H._B%C3%A1n%C3%A1thy" title="Béla H. Bánáthy">Béla H. Bánáthy</a>, who argued—along with the founders of the systems society—that "the benefit of humankind" is the purpose of science, has made significant and far-reaching contributions to the area of systems theory. For the Primer Group at the <a href="International_Society_for_the_Systems_Sciences" title="International Society for the Systems Sciences">International Society for the System Sciences</a>, Bánáthy defines a perspective that iterates this view:<sup id="cite_ref-9" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-9"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>9<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>

</p>

<blockquote class="templatequote"><p>The systems view is a world-view that is based on the discipline of SYSTEM INQUIRY. Central to systems inquiry is the concept of SYSTEM. In the most general sense, system means a configuration of parts connected and joined together by a web of relationships. The Primer Group defines system as a family of relationships among the members acting as a whole. Von Bertalanffy defined system as "elements in standing relationship."</p></blockquote>

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Applications">Applications</h2></div>

/* start https://en.wikipedia.org/ */

.mw-parser-output .hatnote{font-style:italic}.mw-parser-output div.hatnote{padding-left:1.6em;margin-bottom:0.5em}.mw-parser-output .hatnote i{font-style:normal}.mw-parser-output .hatnote+link+.hatnote{margin-top:-0.5em}@media print{body.ns-0 .mw-parser-output .hatnote{display:none!important}}

/* end https://en.wikipedia.org/ */

</style><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">Main article: <a href="Systems_art" title="Systems art">Systems art</a></div>

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Biology">Biology</h3></div>

<div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">Main article: <a href="Systems_biology" title="Systems biology">Systems biology</a></div>

<p>Systems biology is a movement that draws on several trends in <a href="Bioscience" class="mw-redirect" title="Bioscience">bioscience</a> research. Proponents describe systems biology as a biology-based interdisciplinary study field that focuses on complex interactions in <a href="Biological_system" title="Biological system">biological systems</a>, claiming that it uses a new perspective (<a href="Holism" title="Holism">holism</a> instead of <a href="Reductionist" class="mw-redirect" title="Reductionist">reduction</a>).

</p><p>Particularly from the year 2000 onwards, the biosciences use the term widely and in a variety of contexts. An often stated ambition of systems biology is the modelling and discovery of <a href="Emergent_property" class="mw-redirect" title="Emergent property">emergent properties</a> which represents properties of a system whose theoretical description requires the only possible useful techniques to fall under the remit of systems biology. It is thought that <a href="Ludwig_von_Bertalanffy" title="Ludwig von Bertalanffy">Ludwig von Bertalanffy</a> may have created the term <i>systems biology</i> in 1928.<sup id="cite_ref-LVB1928_10-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-LVB1928-10"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>10<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>

</p><p>Subdisciplines of systems biology include:

</p>

<ul><li><a href="Systems_neuroscience" title="Systems neuroscience">Systems neuroscience</a></li>

<li><a href="Systems_pharmacology" title="Systems pharmacology">Systems pharmacology</a></li></ul>

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading4"><h4 id="Ecology">Ecology</h4></div>

<div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">Main article: <a href="Systems_ecology" title="Systems ecology">Systems ecology</a></div>

<p>Systems ecology is an <a href="Interdisciplinary" class="mw-redirect" title="Interdisciplinary">interdisciplinary</a> field of <a href="Ecology" title="Ecology">ecology</a> that takes a <a href="Holism" title="Holism">holistic</a> approach to the study of <a href="Ecological_systems" class="mw-redirect" title="Ecological systems">ecological systems</a>, especially <a href="Ecosystem" title="Ecosystem">ecosystems</a>;<sup id="cite_ref-11" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-11"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>11<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-12" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-12"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>12<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-13" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-13"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>13<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> it can be seen as an application of general systems theory to ecology.

</p><p>Central to the systems ecology approach is the idea that an ecosystem is a <a href="Complex_system" title="Complex system">complex system</a> exhibiting <a href="Emergent_properties" class="mw-redirect" title="Emergent properties">emergent properties</a>. Systems ecology focuses on interactions and transactions within and between biological and ecological systems, and is especially concerned with the way the functioning of ecosystems can be influenced by human interventions. It uses and extends concepts from <a href="Thermodynamics" title="Thermodynamics">thermodynamics</a> and develops other macroscopic descriptions of complex systems.

</p>

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Chemistry">Chemistry</h3></div>

<div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">Main article: <a href="Systems_chemistry" title="Systems chemistry">Systems chemistry</a></div>

<p>Systems chemistry is the science of studying <a href="Network_science" title="Network science">networks</a> of interacting molecules, to create new functions from a set (or library) of molecules with different hierarchical levels and emergent properties.<sup id="cite_ref-14" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-14"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>14<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Systems chemistry is also related to the origin of life (<a href="Abiogenesis" title="Abiogenesis">abiogenesis</a>).<sup id="cite_ref-15" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-15"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>15<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>

</p>

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Engineering">Engineering</h3></div>

<div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">Main article: <a href="Systems_engineering" title="Systems engineering">Systems engineering</a></div>

<p>Systems engineering is an <a href="Interdisciplinary" class="mw-redirect" title="Interdisciplinary">interdisciplinary</a> approach and means for enabling the realisation and deployment of successful <a href="System" title="System">systems</a>. It can be viewed as the application of engineering techniques to the engineering of systems, as well as the application of a systems approach to engineering efforts.<sup id="cite_ref-16" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-16"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>16<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Systems engineering integrates other disciplines and specialty groups into a team effort, forming a structured development process that proceeds from concept to production to operation and disposal. Systems engineering considers both the business and the technical needs of all customers, with the goal of providing a quality product that meets the user's needs.<sup id="cite_ref-17" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-17"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>17<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-18" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-18"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>18<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>

</p>

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading4"><h4 id="User-centered_design_process">User-centered design process</h4></div>

<p>Systems thinking is a crucial part of <a href="User-centered_design" title="User-centered design">user-centered design</a> processes and is necessary to understand the whole impact of a new <a href="Human_computer_interaction" class="mw-redirect" title="Human computer interaction">human computer interaction</a> (HCI) <a href="Information_System" class="mw-redirect" title="Information System">information system</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-19" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-19"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>19<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Overlooking this and developing software without insights input from the future users (mediated by user experience designers) is a serious design flaw that can lead to complete failure of information systems, increased stress and mental illness for users of information systems leading to increased costs and a huge waste of resources.<sup id="cite_ref-20" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-20"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>20<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> It is currently surprisingly uncommon for organizations and governments to investigate the project management decisions leading to serious design flaws and lack of usability.

</p><p>The <a href="Institute_of_Electrical_and_Electronics_Engineers" title="Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers">Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers</a> estimates that roughly 15% of the estimated $1 trillion used to develop information systems every year is completely wasted and the produced systems are discarded before implementation by entirely preventable mistakes.<sup id="cite_ref-21" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-21"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>21<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> According to the CHAOS report published in 2018 by the Standish Group, a vast majority of information systems fail or partly fail according to their survey:

</p>

<blockquote class="templatequote"><p>Pure success is the combination of high customer satisfaction with high return on value to the organization. Related figures for the year 2017 are: successful: 14%, challenged: 67%, failed 19%.<sup id="cite_ref-22" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-22"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>22<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup></p></blockquote>

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Mathematics">Mathematics</h3></div>

<div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">Main article: <a href="System_dynamics" title="System dynamics">System dynamics</a></div>

<p>System dynamics is an approach to understanding the <a href="Nonlinearity" class="mw-redirect" title="Nonlinearity">nonlinear</a> behaviour of <a href="Complex_system" title="Complex system">complex systems</a> over time using <a href="Stock_and_flow" title="Stock and flow">stocks, flows</a>, internal <a href="Feedback_loop" class="mw-redirect" title="Feedback loop">feedback loops</a>, and time delays.<sup id="cite_ref-sysdyn_23-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-sysdyn-23"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>23<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>

</p>

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Social_sciences_and_humanities">Social sciences and humanities</h3></div>

<ul><li><a href="Systems_theory_in_anthropology" title="Systems theory in anthropology">Systems theory in anthropology</a></li>

<li><a href="Systems_theory_in_archaeology" title="Systems theory in archaeology">Systems theory in archaeology</a></li>

<li><a href="Systems_theory_in_political_science" title="Systems theory in political science">Systems theory in political science</a></li></ul>

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading4"><h4 id="Psychology">Psychology</h4></div>

<div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">Main article: <a href="Systems_psychology" title="Systems psychology">Systems psychology</a></div>

<p>Systems psychology is a branch of <a href="Psychology" title="Psychology">psychology</a> that studies <a href="Human_behaviour" class="mw-redirect" title="Human behaviour">human behaviour</a> and <a href="Experience" title="Experience">experience</a> in <a href="Complex_system" title="Complex system">complex systems</a>.

</p><p>It received inspiration from systems theory and systems thinking, as well as the basics of theoretical work from <a href="Roger_Barker" title="Roger Barker">Roger Barker</a>, <a href="Gregory_Bateson" title="Gregory Bateson">Gregory Bateson</a>, <a href="Humberto_Maturana" title="Humberto Maturana">Humberto Maturana</a> and others. It makes an approach in <a href="Psychology" title="Psychology">psychology</a> in which groups and individuals receive consideration as <a href="Systems" class="mw-redirect" title="Systems">systems</a> in <a href="Homeostasis" title="Homeostasis">homeostasis</a>. Systems psychology "includes the domain of <a href="Engineering_psychology" title="Engineering psychology">engineering psychology</a>, but in addition seems more concerned with societal systems<sup id="cite_ref-24" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-24"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>24<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> and with the study of motivational, affective, cognitive and group behavior that holds the name engineering psychology."<sup id="cite_ref-25" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-25"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>25<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>

</p><p>In systems psychology, characteristics of <a href="Organizational_behaviour" class="mw-redirect" title="Organizational behaviour">organizational behaviour</a> (such as individual needs, rewards, <a href="Expectation_(epistemic)" class="mw-redirect" title="Expectation (epistemic)">expectations</a>, and attributes of the people interacting with the <a href="Systems" class="mw-redirect" title="Systems">systems</a>) "considers this process in order to create an effective system."<sup id="cite_ref-26" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-26"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>26<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>

</p>

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Informatics">Informatics</h3></div>

<p>System theory has been applied in the field of neuroinformatics and connectionist cognitive science. Attempts are being made in neurocognition to merge connectionist cognitive neuroarchitectures with the approach of system theory and <a href="Dynamical_systems_theory" title="Dynamical systems theory">dynamical systems theory</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-27" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-27"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>27<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>

</p>

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="History">History</h2></div>

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Precursors">Precursors</h3></div>

<th>Timeline

</th></tr>

<tr>

<td>

<p>Predecessors

</p>

<ul><li><a href="Baron_d'Holbach" title="Baron d'Holbach">Baron d'Holbach</a> (1723/1789), <a href="Henri_de_Saint-Simon" title="Henri de Saint-Simon">Saint-Simon</a> (1760–1825), <a href="Auguste_Comte" title="Auguste Comte">Auguste Comte</a> (1798–1857), <a href="Karl_Marx" title="Karl Marx">Karl Marx</a> (1818–1883), <a href="Friedrich_Engels" title="Friedrich Engels">Friedrich Engels</a> (1820–1895), <a href="Herbert_Spencer" title="Herbert Spencer">Herbert Spencer</a> (1820–1903), <a href="Rudolf_Clausius" title="Rudolf Clausius">Rudolf Clausius</a> (1822–1888), <a href="Vilfredo_Pareto" title="Vilfredo Pareto">Vilfredo Pareto</a> (1848–1923), <a href="%C3%89mile_Durkheim" title="Émile Durkheim">Émile Durkheim</a> (1858–1917), <a href="Alexander_Bogdanov" title="Alexander Bogdanov">Alexander Bogdanov</a> (1873–1928), <a href="Nicolai_Hartmann" title="Nicolai Hartmann">Nicolai Hartmann</a> (1882–1950), <a href="Robert_Maynard_Hutchins" title="Robert Maynard Hutchins">Robert Maynard Hutchins</a> (1929–1951), among others</li></ul>

<p>Founders

</p>

<ul><li>1946–1953: <a href="Macy_conferences" title="Macy conferences">Macy conferences</a></li>

<li>1948: <a href="Norbert_Wiener" title="Norbert Wiener">Norbert Wiener</a> publishes <i><a href="Cybernetics%3A_Or_Control_and_Communication_in_the_Animal_and_the_Machine" title="Cybernetics: Or Control and Communication in the Animal and the Machine">Cybernetics: Or Control and Communication in the Animal and the Machine</a></i></li>

<li>1951: <a href="Talcott_Parsons" title="Talcott Parsons">Talcott Parsons</a> publishes <i>The Social System</i><sup id="cite_ref-28" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-28"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>28<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup></li>

<li>1954: The <a href="Society_for_the_Advancement_of_General_Systems_Theory" class="mw-redirect" title="Society for the Advancement of General Systems Theory">Society for the Advancement of General Systems Theory</a> is established by <a href="Ludwig_von_Bertalanffy" title="Ludwig von Bertalanffy">Ludwig von Bertalanffy</a>, <a href="Anatol_Rapoport" title="Anatol Rapoport">Anatol Rapoport</a>, <a href="Ralph_W._Gerard" title="Ralph W. Gerard">Ralph W. Gerard</a>, <a href="Kenneth_Boulding" class="mw-redirect" title="Kenneth Boulding">Kenneth Boulding</a>.</li>

<li>1955: <a href="William_Ross_Ashby" class="mw-redirect" title="William Ross Ashby">William Ross Ashby</a> publishes <i>Introduction to Cybernetics</i></li>

<li>1968: Bertalanffy publishes <i>General System Theory: Foundations, Development, Applications</i></li></ul>

<p>Other contributors

</p>

<ul><li>1970–1990 <a href="Second-order_cybernetics" title="Second-order cybernetics">Second-order cybernetics</a> (<a href="Heinz_von_Foerster" title="Heinz von Foerster">Heinz von Foerster</a>, <a href="Gregory_Bateson" title="Gregory Bateson">Gregory Bateson</a>, <a href="Humberto_Maturana" title="Humberto Maturana">Humberto Maturana</a>, and others)</li>

<li>1971–1973 <a href="Cybersyn" class="mw-redirect" title="Cybersyn">Cybersyn</a>, rudimentary internet and cybernetic system for democratic economic planning developed by <a href="Stafford_Beer" title="Stafford Beer">Stafford Beer</a> in Chile under the <a href="Allende_government" class="mw-redirect" title="Allende government">Allende government</a></li>

<li>1970s: <a href="Catastrophe_theory" title="Catastrophe theory">Catastrophe theory</a> (<a href="Ren%C3%A9_Thom" title="René Thom">René Thom</a>, <a href="E.C._Zeeman" class="mw-redirect" title="E.C. Zeeman">E.C. Zeeman</a>) <a href="Dynamical_system" title="Dynamical system">Dynamical systems</a> in mathematics.</li>

<li>1977: <a href="Ilya_Prigogine" title="Ilya Prigogine">Ilya Prigogine</a> received the Nobel Prize for his works on <a href="Self-organization" title="Self-organization">self-organization</a>, conciliating important <i>systems theory</i> concepts with <a href="Thermodynamic_system" title="Thermodynamic system">system thermodynamics</a>.</li>

<li>1980s: <a href="Chaos_theory" title="Chaos theory">Chaos theory</a> (<a href="David_Ruelle" title="David Ruelle">David Ruelle</a>, <a href="Edward_Lorenz" class="mw-redirect" title="Edward Lorenz">Edward Lorenz</a>, <a href="Mitchell_Feigenbaum" title="Mitchell Feigenbaum">Mitchell Feigenbaum</a>, <a href="Steve_Smale" class="mw-redirect" title="Steve Smale">Steve Smale</a>, <a href="James_A._Yorke" title="James A. Yorke">James A. Yorke</a>)</li>

<li>1986: <a href="Context_theory" class="mw-redirect" title="Context theory">Context theory</a> (<a href="Anthony_Wilden" title="Anthony Wilden">Anthony Wilden</a>)</li>

<li>1988: <a href="List_of_systems_science_organizations" class="mw-redirect" title="List of systems science organizations">International Society for Systems Science</a> is established.</li>

<li>1990: <a href="Complex_adaptive_system" title="Complex adaptive system">Complex adaptive systems</a> (<a href="John_Henry_Holland" title="John Henry Holland">John H. Holland</a>, <a href="Murray_Gell-Mann" title="Murray Gell-Mann">Murray Gell-Mann</a>, <a href="W._Brian_Arthur" title="W. Brian Arthur">W. Brian Arthur</a>)</li></ul>

</td></tr></tbody></table>

<p>Systems thinking can date back to antiquity, whether considering the first systems of written communication with Sumerian <a href="Cuneiform" title="Cuneiform">cuneiform</a> to <a href="Maya_numerals" title="Maya numerals">Maya numerals</a>, or the feats of engineering with the <a href="Egyptian_pyramids" title="Egyptian pyramids">Egyptian pyramids</a>. Differentiated from Western <a href="Rationalist" class="mw-redirect" title="Rationalist">rationalist</a> traditions of philosophy, <a href="C._West_Churchman" title="C. West Churchman">C. West Churchman</a> often identified with the <a href="I_Ching" title="I Ching">I Ching</a> as a systems approach sharing a frame of reference similar to <a href="Pre-Socratic" class="mw-redirect" title="Pre-Socratic">pre-Socratic</a> philosophy and <a href="Heraclitus" title="Heraclitus">Heraclitus</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-Hammond_29-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Hammond-29"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>29<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup class="reference nowrap"><span title="Page / location: 12–13">: 12–13 </span></sup> <a href="Ludwig_von_Bertalanffy" title="Ludwig von Bertalanffy">Ludwig von Bertalanffy</a> traced systems concepts to the philosophy of <a href="Gottfried_Leibniz" class="mw-redirect" title="Gottfried Leibniz">Gottfried Leibniz</a> and <a href="Nicholas_of_Cusa" title="Nicholas of Cusa">Nicholas of Cusa</a>'s <i><a href="Coincidentia_oppositorum" class="mw-redirect" title="Coincidentia oppositorum">coincidentia oppositorum</a></i>. While modern systems can seem considerably more complicated, they may embed themselves in history.

</p><p>Figures like <a href="James_Prescott_Joule" title="James Prescott Joule">James Joule</a> and <a href="Nicolas_L%C3%A9onard_Sadi_Carnot" title="Nicolas Léonard Sadi Carnot">Sadi Carnot</a> represent an important step to introduce the <i>systems approach</i> into the (rationalist) hard sciences of the 19th century, also known as the <a href="Energy_transformation" title="Energy transformation">energy transformation</a>. Then, the <a href="Thermodynamics" title="Thermodynamics">thermodynamics</a> of this century, by <a href="Rudolf_Clausius" title="Rudolf Clausius">Rudolf Clausius</a>, <a href="Josiah_Willard_Gibbs" title="Josiah Willard Gibbs">Josiah Gibbs</a> and others, established the <i>system</i> <a href="Reference_model" title="Reference model">reference model</a> as a formal scientific object.

</p><p>Similar ideas are found in <a href="Learning_theory_(education)" title="Learning theory (education)">learning theories</a> that developed from the same fundamental concepts, emphasising how understanding results from knowing concepts both in part and as a whole. In fact, Bertalanffy's organismic psychology paralleled the learning theory of <a href="Jean_Piaget" title="Jean Piaget">Jean Piaget</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-GST_30-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-GST-30"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>30<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Some consider interdisciplinary perspectives critical in breaking away from <a href="Industrial_age" class="mw-redirect" title="Industrial age">industrial age</a> models and thinking, wherein history represents history and math represents math, while the arts and sciences <a href="Academic_specialization" title="Academic specialization">specialization</a> remain separate and many treat teaching as <a href="Behaviorist" class="mw-redirect" title="Behaviorist">behaviorist</a> conditioning.<sup id="cite_ref-31" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-31"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>31<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>

</p><p>The contemporary work of <a href="Peter_Senge" title="Peter Senge">Peter Senge</a> provides detailed discussion of the commonplace critique of educational systems grounded in conventional assumptions about learning,<sup id="cite_ref-32" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-32"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>32<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> including the problems with fragmented knowledge and lack of holistic learning from the "machine-age thinking" that became a "model of school separated from daily life." In this way, some systems theorists attempt to provide alternatives to, and evolved ideation from orthodox theories which have grounds in classical assumptions, including individuals such as <a href="Max_Weber" title="Max Weber">Max Weber</a> and <a href="%C3%89mile_Durkheim" title="Émile Durkheim">Émile Durkheim</a> in sociology and <a href="Frederick_Winslow_Taylor" title="Frederick Winslow Taylor">Frederick Winslow Taylor</a> in <a href="Scientific_management" title="Scientific management">scientific management</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-33" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-33"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>33<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> The theorists sought holistic methods by developing systems concepts that could integrate with different areas.

</p><p>Some may view the contradiction of <a href="Reductionism" title="Reductionism">reductionism</a> in conventional theory (which has as its subject a single part) as simply an example of changing assumptions. The emphasis with systems theory shifts from parts to the organization of parts, recognizing interactions of the parts as not static and constant but dynamic processes. Some questioned the conventional <a href="Closed_system" title="Closed system">closed systems</a> with the development of <a href="Open_system_(systems_theory)" title="Open system (systems theory)">open systems</a> perspectives. The shift originated from <a href="Absolute_(philosophy)" title="Absolute (philosophy)">absolute</a> and universal authoritative principles and knowledge to relative and general <a href="Concept" title="Concept">conceptual</a> and <a href="Perceptual" class="mw-redirect" title="Perceptual">perceptual</a> knowledge<sup id="cite_ref-34" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-34"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>34<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> and still remains in the tradition of theorists that sought to provide means to organize human life. In other words, theorists rethought the preceding <a href="History_of_ideas" class="mw-redirect" title="History of ideas">history of ideas</a>; they did not lose them. Mechanistic thinking was particularly critiqued, especially the industrial-age mechanistic <a href="Metaphor" title="Metaphor">metaphor</a> for the mind from <a href="Interpretation_(philosophy)" title="Interpretation (philosophy)">interpretations</a> of <a href="Newtonian_mechanics" class="mw-redirect" title="Newtonian mechanics">Newtonian mechanics</a> by <a href="Age_of_Enlightenment" title="Age of Enlightenment">Enlightenment</a> philosophers and later psychologists that laid the foundations of modern organizational theory and management by the late 19th century.<sup id="cite_ref-35" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-35"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>35<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>

</p>

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Founding_and_early_development">Founding and early development</h3></div>

<p>Where assumptions in Western science from <a href="Plato" title="Plato">Plato</a> and <a href="Aristotle" title="Aristotle">Aristotle</a> to <a href="Isaac_Newton" title="Isaac Newton">Isaac Newton</a>'s <i><a href="Philosophi%C3%A6_Naturalis_Principia_Mathematica" title="Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica">Principia</a></i> (1687) have historically influenced all areas from the <a href="Hard_Science" class="mw-redirect" title="Hard Science">hard</a> to <a href="Social_science" title="Social science">social</a> sciences (see, <a href="David_Easton" title="David Easton">David Easton</a>'s seminal development of the "<a href="Political_system" title="Political system">political system</a>" as an analytical construct), the original systems theorists explored the implications of 20th-century advances in terms of systems.

</p><p>Between 1929 and 1951, <a href="Robert_Maynard_Hutchins" title="Robert Maynard Hutchins">Robert Maynard Hutchins</a> at the <a href="University_of_Chicago" title="University of Chicago">University of Chicago</a> had undertaken efforts to encourage innovation and interdisciplinary research in the social sciences, aided by the <a href="Ford_Foundation" title="Ford Foundation">Ford Foundation</a> with the university's interdisciplinary <a href="Division_of_the_Social_Sciences_(University_of_Chicago)" class="mw-redirect" title="Division of the Social Sciences (University of Chicago)">Division of the Social Sciences</a> established in 1931.<sup id="cite_ref-Hammond_29-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Hammond-29"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>29<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup class="reference nowrap"><span title="Page / location: 5–9">: 5–9 </span></sup>

</p><p>Many early systems theorists aimed at finding a general systems theory that could explain all systems in all fields of science.

</p><p>"<a href="#General_systems_research_and_systems_inquiry">General systems theory</a>" (GST; <a href="German_language" title="German language">German</a>: <i>allgemeine Systemlehre</i>) was coined in the 1940s by <a href="Ludwig_von_Bertalanffy" title="Ludwig von Bertalanffy">Ludwig von Bertalanffy</a>, who sought a new approach to the study of <a href="Living_systems" title="Living systems">living systems</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-:0_36-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-:0-36"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>36<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Bertalanffy developed the theory via lectures beginning in 1937 and then via publications beginning in 1946.<sup id="cite_ref-:2_37-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-:2-37"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>37<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> According to <a href="Mike_Jackson_(systems_scientist)" title="Mike Jackson (systems scientist)">Mike C. Jackson</a> (2000), Bertalanffy promoted an embryonic form of GST as early as the 1920s and 1930s, but it was not until the early 1950s that it became more widely known in scientific circles.<sup id="cite_ref-:3_38-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-:3-38"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>38<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>

</p><p>Jackson also claimed that Bertalanffy's work was informed by <a href="Alexander_Bogdanov" title="Alexander Bogdanov">Alexander Bogdanov</a>'s three-volume <i><a href="Tectology" class="mw-redirect" title="Tectology">Tectology</a></i> (1912–1917), providing the conceptual base for GST.<sup id="cite_ref-:3_38-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-:3-38"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>38<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> A similar position is held by <a href="Richard_Mattessich" title="Richard Mattessich">Richard Mattessich</a> (1978) and <a href="Fritjof_Capra" title="Fritjof Capra">Fritjof Capra</a> (1996). Despite this, Bertalanffy never even mentioned Bogdanov in his works.

</p><p>The systems view was based on several fundamental ideas. First, all phenomena can be viewed as a web of relationships among elements, or a <a href="System" title="System">system</a>. Second, all systems, whether <a href="Electrical" class="mw-redirect" title="Electrical">electrical</a>, <a href="Biological" class="mw-redirect" title="Biological">biological</a>, or <a href="Social_system" title="Social system">social</a>, have common <a href="Patterns" class="mw-redirect" title="Patterns">patterns</a>, <a href="Behavior" title="Behavior">behaviors</a>, and <a href="Property_(philosophy)" title="Property (philosophy)">properties</a> that the observer can analyze and use to develop greater insight into the behavior of complex phenomena and to move closer toward a unity of the sciences. System philosophy, methodology and application are complementary to this science.<sup id="cite_ref-:1_6-3" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-:1-6"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>6<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>

</p><p>Cognizant of advances in science that questioned classical assumptions in the organizational sciences, Bertalanffy's idea to develop a theory of systems began as early as the <a href="Interwar_period" title="Interwar period">interwar period</a>, publishing "An Outline for General Systems Theory" in the <i><a href="British_Journal_for_the_Philosophy_of_Science" title="British Journal for the Philosophy of Science">British Journal for the Philosophy of Science</a></i> by 1950.<sup id="cite_ref-39" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-39"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>39<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>

</p><p>In 1954, von Bertalanffy, along with <a href="Anatol_Rapoport" title="Anatol Rapoport">Anatol Rapoport</a>, <a href="Ralph_W._Gerard" title="Ralph W. Gerard">Ralph W. Gerard</a>, and <a href="Kenneth_Boulding" class="mw-redirect" title="Kenneth Boulding">Kenneth Boulding</a>, came together at the <a href="Center_for_Advanced_Study_in_the_Behavioral_Sciences" title="Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences">Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences</a> in Palo Alto to discuss the creation of a "society for the advancement of General Systems Theory." In December that year, a meeting of around 70 people was held in <a href="Berkeley%2C_California" title="Berkeley, California">Berkeley</a> to form a society for the exploration and development of GST.<sup id="cite_ref-:4_40-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-:4-40"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>40<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> The <a href="Society_for_General_Systems_Research" class="mw-redirect" title="Society for General Systems Research">Society for General Systems Research</a> (renamed the International Society for Systems Science in 1988) was established in 1956 thereafter as an affiliate of the <a href="American_Association_for_the_Advancement_of_Science" title="American Association for the Advancement of Science">American Association for the Advancement of Science</a> (AAAS),<sup id="cite_ref-:4_40-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-:4-40"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>40<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> specifically catalyzing systems theory as an area of study. The field developed from the work of Bertalanffy, Rapoport, Gerard, and Boulding, as well as other theorists in the 1950s like <a href="William_Ross_Ashby" class="mw-redirect" title="William Ross Ashby">William Ross Ashby</a>, <a href="Margaret_Mead" title="Margaret Mead">Margaret Mead</a>, <a href="Gregory_Bateson" title="Gregory Bateson">Gregory Bateson</a>, and <a href="C._West_Churchman" title="C. West Churchman">C. West Churchman</a>, among others.

</p><p>Bertalanffy's ideas were adopted by others, working in mathematics, psychology, biology, <a href="Game_theory" title="Game theory">game theory</a>, and <a href="Social_network_analysis" title="Social network analysis">social network analysis</a>. Subjects that were studied included those of <a href="Complexity" title="Complexity">complexity</a>, <a href="Self-organization" title="Self-organization">self-organization</a>, <a href="Connectionism" title="Connectionism">connectionism</a> and <a href="Adaptive_systems" class="mw-redirect" title="Adaptive systems">adaptive systems</a>. In fields like <a href="Cybernetics" title="Cybernetics">cybernetics</a>, researchers such as Ashby, <a href="Norbert_Wiener" title="Norbert Wiener">Norbert Wiener</a>, <a href="John_von_Neumann" title="John von Neumann">John von Neumann</a>, and <a href="Heinz_von_Foerster" title="Heinz von Foerster">Heinz von Foerster</a> examined complex systems mathematically; Von Neumann discovered <a href="Cellular_automata" class="mw-redirect" title="Cellular automata">cellular automata</a> and self-reproducing systems, again with only pencil and paper. <a href="Aleksandr_Lyapunov" title="Aleksandr Lyapunov">Aleksandr Lyapunov</a> and <a href="Jules_Henri_Poincar%C3%A9" class="mw-redirect" title="Jules Henri Poincaré">Jules Henri Poincaré</a> worked on the foundations of <a href="Chaos_theory" title="Chaos theory">chaos theory</a> without any <a href="Computer" title="Computer">computer</a> at all. At the same time, <a href="Howard_T._Odum" title="Howard T. Odum">Howard T. Odum</a>, known as a radiation ecologist, recognized that the study of general systems required a language that could depict <a href="Energy" title="Energy">energetics</a>, <a href="Thermodynamics" title="Thermodynamics">thermodynamics</a> and <a href="Kinetics_(physics)" title="Kinetics (physics)">kinetics</a> at any system scale. To fulfill this role, Odum developed a general system, or <a href="Universal_language" title="Universal language">universal language</a>, based on the circuit language of <a href="Electronics" title="Electronics">electronics</a>, known as the <a href="Energy_Systems_Language" class="mw-redirect" title="Energy Systems Language">Energy Systems Language</a>.

</p><p>The <a href="Cold_War" title="Cold War">Cold War</a> affected the research project for systems theory in ways that sorely disappointed many of the seminal theorists. Some began to recognize that theories defined in association with systems theory had deviated from the initial general systems theory view.<sup id="cite_ref-41" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-41"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>41<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Economist Kenneth Boulding, an early researcher in systems theory, had concerns over the manipulation of systems concepts. Boulding concluded from the effects of the Cold War that abuses of <a href="Political_power" class="mw-redirect" title="Political power">power</a> always prove consequential and that systems theory might address such issues.<sup id="cite_ref-Hammond_29-2" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Hammond-29"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>29<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup class="reference nowrap"><span title="Page / location: 229–233">: 229–233 </span></sup> Since the end of the Cold War, a renewed interest in systems theory emerged, combined with efforts to strengthen an <a href="Ethical" class="mw-redirect" title="Ethical">ethical</a><sup id="cite_ref-42" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-42"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>42<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> view on the subject.

</p><p>

In sociology, systems thinking also began in the 20th century, including <a href="Talcott_Parsons" title="Talcott Parsons">Talcott Parsons</a>' <a href="Action_theory_(sociology)" title="Action theory (sociology)">action theory</a><sup id="cite_ref-:5_43-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-:5-43"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>43<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> and <a href="Niklas_Luhmann" title="Niklas Luhmann">Niklas Luhmann</a>'s <a href="Social_system#Niklas_Luhmann" title="Social system">social systems theory</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-44" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-44"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>44<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-45" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-45"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>45<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> According to Rudolf Stichweh (2011):<sup id="cite_ref-:5_43-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-:5-43"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>43<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup class="reference nowrap"><span title="Page / location: 2">: 2 </span></sup></p><blockquote><p>Since its beginnings the <a href="Social_science" title="Social science">social sciences</a> were an important part of the establishment of systems theory... [T]he two most influential suggestions were the comprehensive sociological versions of systems theory which were proposed by Talcott Parsons since the 1950s and by Niklas Luhmann since the 1970s.</p></blockquote><p>Elements of systems thinking can also be seen in the work of <a href="James_Clerk_Maxwell" title="James Clerk Maxwell">James Clerk Maxwell</a>, particularly <a href="Control_theory" title="Control theory">control theory</a>.

</p><div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="General_systems_research_and_systems_inquiry">General systems research and systems inquiry</h2></div>

<p>Many early systems theorists aimed at finding a general systems theory that could explain all systems in all fields of science. <a href="Ludwig_von_Bertalanffy" title="Ludwig von Bertalanffy">Ludwig von Bertalanffy</a> began developing his 'general systems theory' via lectures in 1937 and then via publications from 1946.<sup id="cite_ref-:2_37-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-:2-37"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>37<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> The concept received extensive focus in his 1968 book, <i>General System Theory: Foundations, Development, Applications</i>.<sup id="cite_ref-GST_30-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-GST-30"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>30<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>

</p><p>There are many definitions of a general system, some properties that definitions include are: an overall <a href="Teleology" title="Teleology">goal of the system</a>, <a href="Mereology" title="Mereology">parts of the system and relationships between these parts</a>, and <a href="Emergent_properties" class="mw-redirect" title="Emergent properties">emergent properties</a> of the interaction between the parts of the system that are not performed by any part on its own.<sup id="cite_ref-:6_46-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-:6-46"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>46<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup class="reference nowrap"><span title="Page: 58">: 58 </span></sup> <a href="Derek_Hitchins" title="Derek Hitchins">Derek Hitchins</a> defines a system in terms of <a href="Entropy_(information_theory)" title="Entropy (information theory)">entropy</a> as a collection of parts and relationships between the parts where the parts of their interrelationships decrease entropy.<sup id="cite_ref-:6_46-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-:6-46"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>46<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup class="reference nowrap"><span title="Page: 58">: 58 </span></sup>

</p><p>Bertalanffy aimed to bring together under one heading the organismic science that he had observed in his work as a biologist. He wanted to use the word <i>system</i> for those principles that are common to systems in general. In <i>General System Theory</i> (1968), he wrote:<sup id="cite_ref-GST_30-2" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-GST-30"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>30<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup class="reference nowrap"><span title="Page / location: 32">: 32 </span></sup>

</p>

<blockquote class="templatequote"><p>[T]here exist models, principles, and laws that apply to generalized systems or their subclasses, irrespective of their particular kind, the nature of their component elements, and the relationships or "forces" between them. It seems legitimate to ask for a theory, not of systems of a more or less special kind, but of universal principles applying to systems in general.</p></blockquote>

<p>In the preface to von Bertalanffy's <i>Perspectives on General System Theory</i>, <a href="Ervin_L%C3%A1szl%C3%B3" title="Ervin László">Ervin László</a> stated:<sup id="cite_ref-:1_6-4" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-:1-6"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>6<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>

</p>

<blockquote class="templatequote"><p>Thus when von Bertalanffy spoke of Allgemeine Systemtheorie it was consistent with his view that he was proposing a new perspective, a new way of doing science. It was not directly consistent with an interpretation often put on "general system theory", to wit, that it is a (scientific) "theory of general systems." To criticize it as such is to shoot at straw men. Von Bertalanffy opened up something much broader and of much greater significance than a single theory (which, as we now know, can always be falsified and has usually an ephemeral existence): he created a new paradigm for the development of theories.</p></blockquote>

<p>Bertalanffy outlines systems inquiry into three major domains: <a href="Philosophy" title="Philosophy">philosophy</a>, <a href="Science" title="Science">science</a>, and <a href="Technology" title="Technology">technology</a>. In his work with the Primer Group, <a href="B%C3%A9la_H._B%C3%A1n%C3%A1thy" title="Béla H. Bánáthy">Béla H. Bánáthy</a> generalized the domains into four integratable domains of systemic inquiry:

</p>

<ol><li>philosophy: the <a href="Ontology" title="Ontology">ontology</a>, <a href="Epistemology" title="Epistemology">epistemology</a>, and <a href="Axiology" class="mw-redirect" title="Axiology">axiology</a> of systems</li>

<li>theory: a set of interrelated concepts and principles applying to all systems</li>

<li>methodology: the set of models, strategies, methods and tools that instrumentalize systems theory and philosophy</li>

<li>application: the application and interaction of the domains</li></ol>

<p>These operate in a recursive relationship, he explained; integrating 'philosophy' and 'theory' as knowledge, and 'method' and 'application' as action; systems inquiry is thus knowledgeable action.<sup id="cite_ref-47" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-47"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>47<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>

</p>

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Properties_of_general_systems">Properties of general systems</h3></div>

<p>General systems may be split into a <a href="Hierarchy" title="Hierarchy">hierarchy</a> of systems, where there is less interactions between the different systems than there is the components in the system. The alternative is <a href="Heterarchy" title="Heterarchy">heterarchy</a> where all components within the system interact with one another.<sup id="cite_ref-:6_46-2" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-:6-46"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>46<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup class="reference nowrap"><span title="Page: 65">: 65 </span></sup> Sometimes an entire system will be represented inside another system as a part, sometimes referred to as a holon.<sup id="cite_ref-:6_46-3" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-:6-46"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>46<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> These hierarchies of system are studied in <a href="Hierarchy_theory" title="Hierarchy theory">hierarchy theory</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-:7_48-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-:7-48"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>48<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> The amount of interaction between parts of systems higher in the hierarchy and parts of the system lower in the hierarchy is reduced. If all the parts of a system are tightly <a href="Coupling" title="Coupling">coupled</a> (interact with one another a lot) then the system cannot be decomposed into different systems. The amount of coupling between parts of a system may differ temporally, with some parts interacting more often than other, or for different processes in a system.<sup id="cite_ref-49" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-49"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>49<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup class="reference nowrap"><span title="Page: 293">: 293 </span></sup> <a href="Herbert_A._Simon" title="Herbert A. Simon">Herbert A. Simon</a> distinguished between decomposable, nearly decomposable and nondecomposable systems.<sup id="cite_ref-:6_46-4" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-:6-46"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>46<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup class="reference nowrap"><span title="Page: 72">: 72 </span></sup>

</p><p><a href="Russell_L._Ackoff" title="Russell L. Ackoff">Russell L. Ackoff</a> distinguished general systems by how their goals and subgoals could change over time. He distinguished between goal-maintaining, <a href="Goal_seeking" title="Goal seeking">goal-seekin<b>g</b></a>, multi-goal and reflective (or goal-changing) systems.<sup id="cite_ref-:6_46-5" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-:6-46"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>46<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup class="reference nowrap"><span title="Page: 73">: 73 </span></sup>

</p>

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="System_types_and_fields">System types and fields</h2></div>

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Theoretical_fields">Theoretical fields</h3></div>

<div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">Main article: <a href="List_of_types_of_systems_theory" title="List of types of systems theory">List of types of systems theory</a></div>

<ul><li><a href="Chaos_theory" title="Chaos theory">Chaos theory</a></li>

<li><a href="Complex_system" title="Complex system">Complex system</a></li>

<li><a href="Control_theory" title="Control theory">Control theory</a></li>

<li><a href="Dynamical_systems_theory" title="Dynamical systems theory">Dynamical systems theory</a></li>

<li><a href="Earth_system_science" title="Earth system science">Earth system science</a></li>

<li><a href="Ecological_systems_theory" title="Ecological systems theory">Ecological systems theory</a></li>

<li><a href="Industrial_ecology" title="Industrial ecology">Industrial ecology</a></li>

<li><a href="Living_systems_theory" class="mw-redirect" title="Living systems theory">Living systems theory</a><sup id="cite_ref-:7_48-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-:7-48"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>48<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup></li>

<li><a href="Sociotechnical_system" title="Sociotechnical system">Sociotechnical system</a></li>

<li><a href="Systemics" title="Systemics">Systemics</a></li>

<li><a href="Telecoupling" title="Telecoupling">Telecoupling</a></li>

<li><a href="Urban_metabolism" title="Urban metabolism">Urban metabolism</a></li>

<li><a href="World-systems_theory" title="World-systems theory">World-systems theory</a></li></ul>

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading4"><h4 id="Cybernetics">Cybernetics</h4></div>

<div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">Main article: <a href="Cybernetics" title="Cybernetics">Cybernetics</a></div>

<p><a href="Cybernetics" title="Cybernetics">Cybernetics</a> is the study of the <a href="Communication" title="Communication">communication</a> and control of regulatory <a href="Feedback" title="Feedback">feedback</a> both in living and lifeless systems (organisms, organizations, machines), and in combinations of those. Its focus is how anything (digital, mechanical or biological) controls its behavior, processes information, reacts to information, and changes or can be changed to better accomplish those three primary tasks.

</p><p>The terms <i>systems theory</i> and <i>cybernetics</i> have been widely used as synonyms. Some authors use the term <i>cybernetic</i> systems to denote a proper subset of the class of general systems, namely those systems that include <a href="Feedback_loops" class="mw-redirect" title="Feedback loops">feedback loops</a>. However, <a href="Gordon_Pask" title="Gordon Pask">Gordon Pask</a>'s differences of eternal interacting actor loops (that produce finite products) makes general systems a proper subset of cybernetics. In cybernetics, complex systems have been examined mathematically by such researchers as <a href="W._Ross_Ashby" title="W. Ross Ashby">W. Ross Ashby</a>, <a href="Norbert_Wiener" title="Norbert Wiener">Norbert Wiener</a>, <a href="John_von_Neumann" title="John von Neumann">John von Neumann</a>, and <a href="Heinz_von_Foerster" title="Heinz von Foerster">Heinz von Foerster</a>.

</p><p>

Threads of cybernetics began in the late 1800s that led toward the publishing of seminal works (such as Wiener's <i><a href="Cybernetics%3A_Or_Control_and_Communication_in_the_Animal_and_the_Machine" title="Cybernetics: Or Control and Communication in the Animal and the Machine">Cybernetics</a></i> in 1948 and <a href="Ludwig_von_Bertalanffy" title="Ludwig von Bertalanffy">Bertalanffy</a>'s <i>General System Theory</i> in 1968). Cybernetics arose more from engineering fields and GST from biology. If anything, it appears that although the two probably mutually influenced each other, cybernetics had the greater influence. Bertalanffy specifically made the point of distinguishing between the areas in noting the influence of cybernetics:</p><blockquote><p>Systems theory is frequently identified with cybernetics and control theory. This again is incorrect. Cybernetics as the theory of control mechanisms in technology and nature is founded on the concepts of information and feedback, but as part of a general theory of systems.... [T]he model is of wide application but should not be identified with 'systems theory' in general ... [and] warning is necessary against its incautious expansion to fields for which its concepts are not made.<sup id="cite_ref-GST_30-3" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-GST-30"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>30<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup class="reference nowrap"><span title="Page / location: 17–23">: 17–23 </span></sup></p></blockquote><p>Cybernetics, <a href="Catastrophe_theory" title="Catastrophe theory">catastrophe theory</a>, <a href="Chaos_theory" title="Chaos theory">chaos theory</a> and <a href="Complex_systems" class="mw-redirect" title="Complex systems">complexity theory</a> have the common goal to explain complex systems that consist of a large number of mutually interacting and interrelated parts in terms of those interactions. <a href="Cellular_automaton" title="Cellular automaton">Cellular automata</a>, <a href="Neural_network" title="Neural network">neural networks</a>, <a href="Artificial_intelligence" title="Artificial intelligence">artificial intelligence</a>, and <a href="Artificial_life" title="Artificial life">artificial life</a> are related fields, but do not try to describe general (universal) complex (singular) systems. The best context to compare the different "C"-Theories about complex systems is historical, which emphasizes different tools and methodologies, from <a href="Pure_mathematics" title="Pure mathematics">pure mathematics</a> in the beginning to pure <a href="Computer_science" title="Computer science">computer science</a> today. Since the beginning of chaos theory, when <a href="Edward_Lorenz" class="mw-redirect" title="Edward Lorenz">Edward Lorenz</a> accidentally discovered a <a href="Strange_attractor" class="mw-redirect" title="Strange attractor">strange attractor</a> with his computer, computers have become an indispensable source of information. One could not imagine the study of complex systems without the use of computers today.

</p><div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="System_types">System types</h3></div>

<ul><li><a href="Biological_system" title="Biological system">Biological</a>

<ul><li><a href="Anatomy" title="Anatomy">Anatomical systems</a>

<ul><li><a href="Nervous_system" title="Nervous system">Nervous</a>

<ul><li><a href="Sensory_system" class="mw-redirect" title="Sensory system">Sensory</a></li></ul></li></ul></li>

<li><a href="Social_ecological_model#Bronfenbrenner's_ecological_framework_for_human_development" title="Social ecological model">Ecological systems</a></li>

<li><a href="Living_systems" title="Living systems">Living systems</a></li></ul></li>

<li><a href="Complex_system" title="Complex system">Complex</a>

<ul><li><a href="Complex_adaptive_system" title="Complex adaptive system">Complex adaptive system</a></li></ul></li>

<li><a href="Conceptual_system" title="Conceptual system">Conceptual</a>

<ul><li><a href="Coordinate_system" title="Coordinate system">Coordinate</a></li>

<li><a href="Deterministic_system_(philosophy)" title="Deterministic system (philosophy)">Deterministic</a> (philosophy)</li>

<li><a href="Digital_ecosystem" title="Digital ecosystem">Digital ecosystem</a></li>

<li><a href="Experimental_system" title="Experimental system">Experimental</a></li>

<li><a href="Writing_system" title="Writing system">Writing</a></li></ul></li>

<li><a href="Coupled_human%E2%80%93environment_system" title="Coupled human–environment system">Coupled human–environment</a></li>

<li><a href="Database_system" class="mw-redirect" title="Database system">Database</a></li>

<li><a href="Deterministic_system" title="Deterministic system">Deterministic</a> (science)</li>

<li><a href="Mathematical_system_theory" class="mw-redirect" title="Mathematical system theory">Mathematical</a>

<ul><li><a href="Dynamical_system" title="Dynamical system">Dynamical system</a></li>

<li><a href="Formal_system" title="Formal system">Formal system</a></li></ul></li>

<li><a href="Energy_system" title="Energy system">Energy</a></li>

<li><a href="Holarchical_System" class="mw-redirect" title="Holarchical System">Holarchical</a></li>

<li><a href="Information_system" title="Information system">Information</a></li>

<li><a href="System_of_measurement" class="mw-redirect" title="System of measurement">Measurement</a>

<ul><li><a href="Imperial_System" class="mw-redirect" title="Imperial System">Imperial</a></li>

<li><a href="Metric_system" title="Metric system">Metric</a></li></ul></li>

<li><a href="Multi-agent_system" title="Multi-agent system">Multi-agent</a></li>

<li><a href="Nonlinear_system" title="Nonlinear system">Nonlinear</a></li>

<li><a href="Operating_system" title="Operating system">Operating</a></li>

<li><a href="Planetary_system" title="Planetary system">Planetary</a></li>

<li><a href="Social_system" title="Social system">Social</a>

<ul><li><a href="Cultural_system" title="Cultural system">Cultural</a></li>

<li><a href="Economic_system" title="Economic system">Economic</a></li>

<li><a href="List_of_national_legal_systems" title="List of national legal systems">Legal</a></li>

<li><a href="Political_system" title="Political system">Political</a></li></ul></li>

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading4"><h4 id="Complex_adaptive_systems">Complex adaptive systems</h4></div>

<div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">Main article: <a href="Complex_adaptive_system" title="Complex adaptive system">Complex adaptive system</a></div>

<p>Complex adaptive systems (CAS), coined by <a href="John_Henry_Holland" title="John Henry Holland">John H. Holland</a>, <a href="Murray_Gell-Mann" title="Murray Gell-Mann">Murray Gell-Mann</a>, and others at the interdisciplinary <a href="Santa_Fe_Institute" title="Santa Fe Institute">Santa Fe Institute</a>, are special cases of <a href="Complex_system" title="Complex system">complex systems</a>: they are <i>complex</i> in that they are diverse and composed of multiple, interconnected elements; they are <i>adaptive</i> in that they have the capacity to change and learn from experience.

</p><p>In contrast to <a href="Control_system" title="Control system">control systems</a>, in which <a href="Negative_feedback" title="Negative feedback">negative feedback</a> dampens and reverses disequilibria, CAS are often subject to <a href="Positive_feedback" title="Positive feedback">positive feedback</a>, which magnifies and perpetuates changes, converting local irregularities into global features.

</p>

/* start https://en.wikipedia.org/ */

.mw-parser-output .portalbox{padding:0;margin:0.5em 0;display:table;box-sizing:border-box;max-width:175px;list-style:none}.mw-parser-output .portalborder{border:1px solid var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1);padding:0.1em;background:var(--background-color-neutral-subtle,#f8f9fa)}.mw-parser-output .portalbox-entry{display:table-row;font-size:85%;line-height:110%;height:1.9em;font-style:italic;font-weight:bold}.mw-parser-output .portalbox-image{display:table-cell;padding:0.2em;vertical-align:middle;text-align:center}.mw-parser-output .portalbox-link{display:table-cell;padding:0.2em 0.2em 0.2em 0.3em;vertical-align:middle}@media(min-width:720px){.mw-parser-output .portalleft{margin:0.5em 1em 0.5em 0}.mw-parser-output .portalright{clear:right;float:right;margin:0.5em 0 0.5em 1em}}

/* end https://en.wikipedia.org/ */

</style>

/* start https://en.wikipedia.org/ */

.mw-parser-output .div-col{margin-top:0.3em;column-width:30em}.mw-parser-output .div-col-small{font-size:90%}.mw-parser-output .div-col-rules{column-rule:1px solid #aaa}.mw-parser-output .div-col dl,.mw-parser-output .div-col ol,.mw-parser-output .div-col ul{margin-top:0}.mw-parser-output .div-col li,.mw-parser-output .div-col dd{page-break-inside:avoid;break-inside:avoid-column}

/* end https://en.wikipedia.org/ */

</style><div class="div-col" style="column-width: 17em;">

<ul><li><a href="List_of_types_of_systems_theory" title="List of types of systems theory">List of types of systems theory</a></li>

<li><a href="Glossary_of_systems_theory" title="Glossary of systems theory">Glossary of systems theory</a></li>

<li><a href="Autonomous_agency_theory" title="Autonomous agency theory">Autonomous agency theory</a></li>

<li><a href="Bibliography_of_sociology" title="Bibliography of sociology">Bibliography of sociology</a></li>

<li><a href="Cellular_automata" class="mw-redirect" title="Cellular automata">Cellular automata</a></li>

<li><a href="Chaos_theory" title="Chaos theory">Chaos theory</a>

<ul><li><a href="Complex_systems" class="mw-redirect" title="Complex systems">Complexity</a></li></ul></li>

<li><a href="Emergence" title="Emergence">Emergence</a></li>

<li><a href="Engaged_theory" title="Engaged theory">Engaged theory</a></li>

<li><a href="Fractal" title="Fractal">Fractal</a></li>

<li><a href="Grey_box_model" title="Grey box model">Grey box model</a></li>

<li><a href="Irreducible_complexity" title="Irreducible complexity">Irreducible complexity</a></li>

<li><a href="Meta-systems" class="mw-redirect" title="Meta-systems">Meta-systems</a></li>

<li><a href="Multidimensional_systems" class="mw-redirect" title="Multidimensional systems">Multidimensional systems</a></li>

<li>Open and closed systems in social science</li>

<li><a href="Pattern_language#Usage" title="Pattern language">Pattern language</a></li>

<li><a href="Recursion_(computer_science)" title="Recursion (computer science)">Recursion (computer science)</a></li>

<li><a href="Reductionism" title="Reductionism">Reductionism</a></li>

<li><a href="Redundancy_(engineering)" title="Redundancy (engineering)">Redundancy (engineering)</a></li>

<li><a href="Reversal_theory" title="Reversal theory">Reversal theory</a></li>

<li><a href="Social_rule_system_theory" title="Social rule system theory">Social rule system theory</a></li>

<li><a href="Sociotechnical_system" title="Sociotechnical system">Sociotechnical system</a></li>

<li><a href="Sociology_and_complexity_science" class="mw-redirect" title="Sociology and complexity science">Sociology and complexity science</a></li>

<li><a href="Structure%E2%80%93organization%E2%80%93process" title="Structure–organization–process">Structure–organization–process</a></li>

<li><a href="Systemantics" title="Systemantics">Systemantics</a></li>

<li><a href="System_identification" title="System identification">System identification</a></li>

<li><a href="Systematics_%E2%80%93_study_of_multi-term_systems" class="mw-redirect" title="Systematics – study of multi-term systems">Systematics – study of multi-term systems</a></li>

<li><a href="Systemics" title="Systemics">Systemics</a></li>

<li><a href="Systemography" title="Systemography">Systemography</a></li>

<li><a href="Systems_science" title="Systems science">Systems science</a></li>

<li><a href="Theoretical_ecology" title="Theoretical ecology">Theoretical ecology</a></li>

<li><a href="Tektology" title="Tektology">Tektology</a></li>

<li><a href="Viable_system_theory" title="Viable system theory">Viable system theory</a></li>

<li><a href="Viable_systems_approach" title="Viable systems approach">Viable systems approach</a></li>

<li><a href="World-systems_theory" title="World-systems theory">World-systems theory</a></li>

<li><a href="Structuralist_economics" title="Structuralist economics">Structuralist economics</a></li>

<li><a href="Dependency_theory" title="Dependency theory">Dependency theory</a></li>

<li><a href="Hierarchy_theory" title="Hierarchy theory">Hierarchy theory</a></li></ul>

</div>

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Organizations">Organizations</h3></div>

<ul><li><a href="List_of_systems_sciences_organizations" title="List of systems sciences organizations">List of systems sciences organizations</a></li></ul>

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="References">References</h2></div>

/* start https://en.wikipedia.org/ */

.mw-parser-output .reflist{margin-bottom:0.5em;list-style-type:decimal}@media screen{.mw-parser-output .reflist{font-size:90%}}.mw-parser-output .reflist .references{font-size:100%;margin-bottom:0;list-style-type:inherit}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns-2{column-width:30em}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns-3{column-width:25em}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns{margin-top:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns ol{margin-top:0}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns li{page-break-inside:avoid;break-inside:avoid-column}.mw-parser-output .reflist-upper-alpha{list-style-type:upper-alpha}.mw-parser-output .reflist-upper-roman{list-style-type:upper-roman}.mw-parser-output .reflist-lower-alpha{list-style-type:lower-alpha}.mw-parser-output .reflist-lower-greek{list-style-type:lower-greek}.mw-parser-output .reflist-lower-roman{list-style-type:lower-roman}

/* end https://en.wikipedia.org/ */

</style><div class="reflist reflist-columns references-column-width" style="column-width: 30em;">

/* start https://en.wikipedia.org/ */

.mw-parser-output cite.citation{font-style:inherit;word-wrap:break-word}.mw-parser-output .citation q{quotes:"\"""\"""'""'"}.mw-parser-output .citation:target{background-color:rgba(0,127,255,0.133)}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-free.id-lock-free a{background:url("./mw/Lock-green.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-limited.id-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .id-lock-registration.id-lock-registration a{background:url("./mw/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-subscription.id-lock-subscription a{background:url("./mw/Lock-red-alt-2.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon a{background:url("./mw/Wikisource-logo.svg")right 0.1em center/12px no-repeat}body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-free a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-limited a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-registration a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-subscription a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon a{background-size:contain;padding:0 1em 0 0}.mw-parser-output .cs1-code{color:inherit;background:inherit;border:none;padding:inherit}.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-error{display:none;color:var(--color-error,#d33)}.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-error{color:var(--color-error,#d33)}.mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{display:none;color:#085;margin-left:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left{padding-left:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right{padding-right:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .citation .mw-selflink{font-weight:inherit}@media screen{.mw-parser-output .cs1-format{font-size:95%}html.skin-theme-clientpref-night .mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{color:#18911f}}@media screen and (prefers-color-scheme:dark){html.skin-theme-clientpref-os .mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{color:#18911f}}

/* end https://en.wikipedia.org/ */

</style><cite id="CITEREFMontuori2011" class="citation book cs1">Montuori, A. (2011). "Systems Approach". <i>Encyclopedia of Creativity</i>. pp. <span class="nowrap">414–</span>421. <a href="Doi_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Doi (identifier)">doi</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.1016%2FB978-0-12-375038-9.00212-0">10.1016/B978-0-12-375038-9.00212-0</a>. <a href="ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <bdi>978-0-12-375038-9</bdi>.</cite></span>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-2"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-2">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite id="CITEREFVon_Bertalanffy1972" class="citation journal cs1">Von Bertalanffy, Ludwig (1972). "The History and Status of General Systems Theory". <i>The Academy of Management Journal</i>. <b>15</b> (4): <span class="nowrap">407–</span>426. <a href="JSTOR_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="JSTOR (identifier)">JSTOR</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/255139">255139</a>.</cite></span>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-3"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-3">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite id="CITEREFBeven2006" class="citation journal cs1">Beven, Keith (March 2006). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://eprints.lancs.ac.uk/id/eprint/4419/1/Manifesto12.pdf">"A manifesto for the equifinality thesis"</a> <span class="cs1-format">(PDF)</span>. <i>Journal of Hydrology</i>. <b>320</b> (<span class="nowrap">1–</span>2): <span class="nowrap">18–</span>36. <a href="Bibcode_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Bibcode (identifier)">Bibcode</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2006JHyd..320...18B">2006JHyd..320...18B</a>. <a href="Doi_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Doi (identifier)">doi</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.1016%2Fj.jhydrol.2005.07.007">10.1016/j.jhydrol.2005.07.007</a>.</cite></span>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-4"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-4">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite id="CITEREFPaolo_Rocchi2000" class="citation book cs1">Paolo Rocchi (2000). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://books.google.com/books?id=2X17MLCjsKgC&pg=PA8"><i>Technology + Culture</i></a>. IOS Press. <a href="ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <bdi>978-1-58603-035-3</bdi>.</cite></span>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-5"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-5">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Bertalanffy, (1950: 142).</span>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-:1-6"><span class="mw-cite-backlink">^ <a href="#cite_ref-:1_6-0"><sup><i><b>a</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-:1_6-1"><sup><i><b>b</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-:1_6-2"><sup><i><b>c</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-:1_6-3"><sup><i><b>d</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-:1_6-4"><sup><i><b>e</b></i></sup></a></span> <span class="reference-text"><a href="Ervin_L%C3%A1szl%C3%B3" title="Ervin László">László, Ervin</a>. 1974. "Preface" in <i>Perspectives on General System Theory</i>, by L. von Bertalanffy, edited by Edgar Taschdjian. New York: George Braziller.</span>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-Schein-7"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-Schein_7-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite id="CITEREFSchein1980" class="citation book cs1">Schein, E. H. (1980). <i>Organizational Psychology</i>. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall. pp. <span class="nowrap">4–</span>11.</cite></span>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-8"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-8">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite id="CITEREFLaszlo1972" class="citation book cs1"><a href="Ervin_L%C3%A1szl%C3%B3" title="Ervin László">Laszlo, Ervin</a> (1972). <i>The Systems View of the World: The Natural Philosophy of the New Developments in the Sciences</i>. New York, New York: George Braziller, Inc. (simultaneously with Doubleday Canada, Limited). pp. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://archive.org/details/systemsviewofw00lasz/page/14/mode/2up?q=%22one+step+beyond+the+Newtonian+view+of+organized+simplicity%22">14–15</a>. <a href="ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <bdi>0-8076-0637-5</bdi>. <a href="LCCN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="LCCN (identifier)">LCCN</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://lccn.loc.gov/71-188357">71-188357</a>.</cite></span>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-9"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-9">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a href="B%C3%A9la_H._B%C3%A1n%C3%A1thy" title="Béla H. Bánáthy">Béla H. Bánáthy</a>, 1997: ¶ 22.</span>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-LVB1928-10"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-LVB1928_10-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">1928, Kritische Theorie der Formbildung, Borntraeger. In English: Modern Theories of Development: An Introduction to Theoretical Biology, Oxford University Press, New York: Harper, 1933</span>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-11"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-11">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Shugart, Herman H., and Robert V. O'Neill. "Systems Ecology". Dowden, Hutchingon & Ross, 1979.</span>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-12"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-12">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Van Dyne, George M. "Ecosystems, Systems Ecology, and Systems Ecologists". ORNL- 3975. Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN, 1966.</span>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-13"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-13">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite id="CITEREFWilkinson2006" class="citation book cs1">Wilkinson, David M. (2006). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://books.google.com/books?id=PFGWHyRyzBwC&q=Fundamental+Processes+in+Ecology:+An+Earth+Systems+Approach"><i>Fundamental Processes in Ecology: An Earth Systems Approach</i></a>. Oxford University Press. <a href="ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <bdi>9780198568469</bdi>. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20240421022110/https://books.google.com/books?id=PFGWHyRyzBwC&q=Fundamental+Processes+in+Ecology:+An+Earth+Systems+Approach">Archived</a> from the original on 2024-04-21<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">2020-11-12</span></span>.</cite></span>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-14"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-14">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite id="CITEREFLudlowOtto2008" class="citation journal cs1">Ludlow, R. Frederick; Otto, Sijbren (2008). "Systems chemistry". <i>Chemical Society Reviews</i>. <b>37</b> (1): <span class="nowrap">101–</span>108. <a href="Doi_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Doi (identifier)">doi</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.1039%2Fb611921m">10.1039/b611921m</a>. <a href="PMID_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="PMID (identifier)">PMID</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18197336">18197336</a>.</cite></span>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-15"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-15">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite id="CITEREFvon_KiedrowskiOttoHerdewijn2010" class="citation journal cs1">von Kiedrowski, Günter; Otto, Sijbren; Herdewijn, Piet (December 2010). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.1186%2F1759-2208-1-1">"Welcome Home, Systems Chemists!"</a>. <i>Journal of Systems Chemistry</i>. <b>1</b> (1) 1. <a href="Doi_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Doi (identifier)">doi</a>:<span class="id-lock-free" title="Freely accessible"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.1186%2F1759-2208-1-1">10.1186/1759-2208-1-1</a></span>.</cite></span>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-16"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-16">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite id="CITEREFThomé1993" class="citation book cs1">Thomé, Bernhard (1993). <i>Systems Engineering: Principles and Practice of Computer-based Systems Engineering</i>. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons. <a href="ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <bdi>0-471-93552-2</bdi>.</cite></span>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-17"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-17">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite id="CITEREFINCOSE" class="citation web cs1"><a href="INCOSE" class="mw-redirect" title="INCOSE">INCOSE</a>. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.incose.org/practice/whatissystemseng.aspx">"What is Systems Engineering"</a>. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20061128033211/http://www.incose.org/practice/whatissystemseng.aspx">Archived</a> from the original on 2006-11-28<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">2006-11-26</span></span>.</cite></span>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-18"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-18">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Blockley, David; Godfrey, Patrick, <i>Doing it Differently: Systems for Rethinking Infrastructure (2nd Edition)</i> ICE Publishing, London, England, <a href="ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <bdi>978-0-7277-6082-1</bdi>.</span>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-19"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-19">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite id="CITEREFSöderström" class="citation web cs1">Söderström, Jonas. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://javlaskitsystem.se/2020/02/algoritmiska-larm-belastar-sjukvarden/">"Algoritmiska larm belastar sjukvården"</a>. <i>Jävla skitsystem</i>. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20200806011103/http://javlaskitsystem.se/2020/02/algoritmiska-larm-belastar-sjukvarden/">Archived</a> from the original on 6 August 2020<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">12 September</span> 2020</span>.</cite></span>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-20"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-20">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite id="CITEREFSöderström2010" class="citation book cs1">Söderström, Jonas (2010). <i>Jävla skitsystem!</i>. Stockholm: Karnaval Förlag. p. 16,17.</cite></span>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-21"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-21">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite id="CITEREFCharette2005" class="citation web cs1">Charette, Robert N. (2 September 2005). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://spectrum.ieee.org/why-software-fails">"Why Software Fails"</a>. <i>IEEE Spectrum</i>. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20200909063905/https://spectrum.ieee.org/computing/software/why-software-fails">Archived</a> from the original on 9 September 2020<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">12 September</span> 2020</span>.</cite></span>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-22"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-22">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite id="CITEREFPortman2020" class="citation web cs1">Portman, Henny (3 January 2020). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://hennyportman.wordpress.com/2020/01/03/review-chaos-report-2018/">"Review CHAOS Report 2018"</a>. <i>Henny Portman's Blog</i>. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20200929194449/https://hennyportman.wordpress.com/2020/01/03/review-chaos-report-2018/">Archived</a> from the original on 29 September 2020<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">11 September</span> 2020</span>.</cite></span>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-sysdyn-23"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-sysdyn_23-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://web.mit.edu/sysdyn/sd-intro/">"MIT System Dynamics in Education Project (SDEP)"</a>. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20190213102210/http://web.mit.edu/sysdyn/sd-intro/">Archived</a> from the original on 2019-02-13<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">2016-10-28</span></span>.</cite></span>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-24"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-24">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite id="CITEREFVallacher,_R._R.,_&_Nowak,_A.2007" class="citation book cs1">Vallacher, R. R., & Nowak, A. (2007). <i>Dynamical social psychology: Finding order in the flow of human experience</i>. New York: Guilford Publications.</cite><span class="cs1-maint citation-comment"><code class="cs1-code">{{cite book}}</code>: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)</span></span>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-25"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-25">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Lester R. Bittel and Muriel Albers Bittel (1978), <i>Encyclopedia of Professional Management</i>, McGraw-Hill, <a href="ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <bdi>0-07-005478-9</bdi>, p. 498.</span>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-26"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-26">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Michael M. Behrmann (1984), <i>Handbook of Microcomputers in Special Education</i>. College Hill Press. <a href="ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <bdi>0-933014-35-X</bdi>. p. 212.</span>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-27"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-27">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite id="CITEREFMaurer2021" class="citation book cs1">Maurer, Harald (2021). <i>Cognitive Science</i>. <a href="Doi_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Doi (identifier)">doi</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.1201%2F9781351043526">10.1201/9781351043526</a>. <a href="ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <bdi>978-1-351-04352-6</bdi>.</cite> chap. 1.4, 2., 3.26</span>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-28"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-28">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite id="CITEREFParsons1951" class="citation book cs1">Parsons, Talcott (1951). <i>The Social System</i>. Glencoe.</cite></span>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-Hammond-29"><span class="mw-cite-backlink">^ <a href="#cite_ref-Hammond_29-0"><sup><i><b>a</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-Hammond_29-1"><sup><i><b>b</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-Hammond_29-2"><sup><i><b>c</b></i></sup></a></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite id="CITEREFHammond,_Debora2003" class="citation book cs1">Hammond, Debora (2003). <i>The Science of Synthesis</i>. University of Colorado Press. <a href="ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <bdi>9780870817229</bdi>.</cite></span>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-GST-30"><span class="mw-cite-backlink">^ <a href="#cite_ref-GST_30-0"><sup><i><b>a</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-GST_30-1"><sup><i><b>b</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-GST_30-2"><sup><i><b>c</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-GST_30-3"><sup><i><b>d</b></i></sup></a></span> <span class="reference-text"><a href="Ludwig_von_Bertalanffy" title="Ludwig von Bertalanffy">von Bertalanffy, Ludwig</a>. [1968] 1976. <i>General System Theory: Foundations, Development, Applications</i> (rev. ed.). New York: George Braziller. <a href="ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <bdi>0-8076-0453-4</bdi>.</span>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-31"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-31">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">see Steiss 1967; Buckley, 1967.</span>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-32"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-32">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite id="CITEREFSenge2000" class="citation book cs1">Senge, Peter., Ed (2000). <i>Schools That Learn: A Fifth Discipline Fieldbook for Educators, Parents, and Everyone Who Cares About Education</i>. New York: Doubleday Dell Publishing Group. pp. <span class="nowrap">27–</span>49.</cite><span class="cs1-maint citation-comment"><code class="cs1-code">{{cite book}}</code>: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)</span></span>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-33"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-33">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Bailey, 1994, pp. 3–8; see also Owens, 2004.</span>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-34"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-34">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Bailey 1994, pp. 3–8.</span>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-35"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-35">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Bailey, 1994; Flood, 1997; Checkland, 1999; Laszlo, 1972.</span>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-:0-36"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-:0_36-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Montuori, A. 2011. "Systems Approach." pp. 414–421 in <i>Encyclopedia of Creativity</i> (2nd ed.). Academic Press. <a href="Doi_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Doi (identifier)">doi</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.1016%2FB978-0-12-375038-9.00212-0">10.1016/B978-0-12-375038-9.00212-0</a>.</span>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-:2-37"><span class="mw-cite-backlink">^ <a href="#cite_ref-:2_37-0"><sup><i><b>a</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-:2_37-1"><sup><i><b>b</b></i></sup></a></span> <span class="reference-text"><a href="Karl_Ludwig_von_Bertalanffy" class="mw-redirect" title="Karl Ludwig von Bertalanffy">von Bertalanffy, Karl Ludwig</a>. [1967] 1970. <i>Robots, Men and Minds: Psychology in the Modern World</i> (1st ed.), translated by H-J. Flechtner. Düsseldorf: Econ Verlag GmbH. p. 115.</span>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-:3-38"><span class="mw-cite-backlink">^ <a href="#cite_ref-:3_38-0"><sup><i><b>a</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-:3_38-1"><sup><i><b>b</b></i></sup></a></span> <span class="reference-text"><a href="Mike_Jackson_(systems_scientist)" title="Mike Jackson (systems scientist)">Mike C. Jackson</a>. 2000. <i>Systems Approaches to Management</i>. London, England: Springer.</span>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-39"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-39">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a href="Ludwig_von_Bertalanffy" title="Ludwig von Bertalanffy">von Bertalanffy, Ludwig</a>. 1950. "An Outline for General Systems Theory." <i><a href="British_Journal_for_the_Philosophy_of_Science" title="British Journal for the Philosophy of Science">British Journal for the Philosophy of Science</a></i> 1(2).</span>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-:4-40"><span class="mw-cite-backlink">^ <a href="#cite_ref-:4_40-0"><sup><i><b>a</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-:4_40-1"><sup><i><b>b</b></i></sup></a></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.isss.org/history/">"History"</a>. <i>www.isss.org</i>. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20210510215818/https://www.isss.org/history/">Archived</a> from the original on 2021-05-10<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">2021-03-13</span></span>.</cite></span>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-41"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-41">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite id="CITEREFHull1970" class="citation journal cs1">Hull, D. L. (1970). "Systemic Dynamic Social Theory". <i>Sociological Quarterly</i>. <b>11</b> (3): <span class="nowrap">351–</span>363. <a href="Doi_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Doi (identifier)">doi</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.1111%2Fj.1533-8525.1970.tb00778.x">10.1111/j.1533-8525.1970.tb00778.x</a>.</cite></span>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-42"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-42">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Ludwig von Bertalanffy. 1968. <i>General System theory: Foundations, Development, Applications</i>.</span>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-:5-43"><span class="mw-cite-backlink">^ <a href="#cite_ref-:5_43-0"><sup><i><b>a</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-:5_43-1"><sup><i><b>b</b></i></sup></a></span> <span class="reference-text">Rudolf Stichweh (2011), "<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.fiw.uni-bonn.de/demokratieforschung/personen/stichweh/pdfs/80_stw_systems-theory-international-encyclopedia-of-political-science_2.pdf">Systems Theory</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20160307050846/https://www.fiw.uni-bonn.de/demokratieforschung/personen/stichweh/pdfs/80_stw_systems-theory-international-encyclopedia-of-political-science_2.pdf">Archived</a> 2016-03-07 at the <a href="Wayback_Machine" title="Wayback Machine">Wayback Machine</a>", in:y.</span>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-44"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-44">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite id="CITEREFLuhmann1984" class="citation book cs1">Luhmann, Niklas (1984). <i>Soziale Systeme: Grundriß einer allgemeinen Theorie</i>. Suhrkamp.</cite></span>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-45"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-45">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Bertrand Badie et al. (eds.), <i>International Encyclopedia of Political Science</i>. Sage New York.</span>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-:6-46"><span class="mw-cite-backlink">^ <a href="#cite_ref-:6_46-0"><sup><i><b>a</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-:6_46-1"><sup><i><b>b</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-:6_46-2"><sup><i><b>c</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-:6_46-3"><sup><i><b>d</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-:6_46-4"><sup><i><b>e</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-:6_46-5"><sup><i><b>f</b></i></sup></a></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite id="CITEREFSkyttner2005" class="citation book cs1">Skyttner, Lars (2005). <i>General systems theory : problems, perspectives, practice</i> (2nd ed.). Hackensack, NJ: World Scientific. <a href="ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <bdi>978-981-277-475-0</bdi>. <a href="OCLC_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="OCLC (identifier)">OCLC</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://search.worldcat.org/oclc/181372125">181372125</a>.</cite></span>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-47"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-47">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite class="citation web cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://projects.isss.org/doku.php">"start [ProjectsISSS]"</a>. <i>projects.isss.org</i>. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20210413003925/http://projects.isss.org/doku.php">Archived</a> from the original on 2021-04-13<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">2021-04-07</span></span>.</cite></span>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-:7-48"><span class="mw-cite-backlink">^ <a href="#cite_ref-:7_48-0"><sup><i><b>a</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-:7_48-1"><sup><i><b>b</b></i></sup></a></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite id="CITEREFSinnottRabin2012" class="citation book cs1">Sinnott, J.D.; Rabin, J.S. (2012). "Sex Roles". <i>Encyclopedia of Human Behavior</i>. pp. <span class="nowrap">411–</span>417. <a href="Doi_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Doi (identifier)">doi</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.1016%2FB978-0-12-375000-6.00323-2">10.1016/B978-0-12-375000-6.00323-2</a>. <a href="ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <bdi>978-0-08-096180-4</bdi>.</cite></span>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-49"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-49">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite id="CITEREFWu2013" class="citation book cs1">Wu, Jianguo (2013). "Hierarchy Theory: An Overview". <i>Linking Ecology and Ethics for a Changing World</i>. pp. <span class="nowrap">281–</span>301. <a href="Doi_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Doi (identifier)">doi</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.1007%2F978-94-007-7470-4_24">10.1007/978-94-007-7470-4_24</a>. <a href="ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <bdi>978-94-007-7469-8</bdi>.</cite></span>

</li>

</ol></div>

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Further_reading">Further reading</h2></div>

/* start https://en.wikipedia.org/ */

.mw-parser-output .refbegin{margin-bottom:0.5em}.mw-parser-output .refbegin-hanging-indents>ul{margin-left:0}.mw-parser-output .refbegin-hanging-indents>ul>li{margin-left:0;padding-left:3.2em;text-indent:-3.2em}.mw-parser-output .refbegin-hanging-indents ul,.mw-parser-output .refbegin-hanging-indents ul li{list-style:none}@media(max-width:720px){.mw-parser-output .refbegin-hanging-indents>ul>li{padding-left:1.6em;text-indent:-1.6em}}.mw-parser-output .refbegin-columns{margin-top:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .refbegin-columns ul{margin-top:0}.mw-parser-output .refbegin-columns li{page-break-inside:avoid;break-inside:avoid-column}@media screen{.mw-parser-output .refbegin{font-size:90%}}

/* end https://en.wikipedia.org/ */

</style><div class="refbegin refbegin-columns references-column-width" style="column-width: 30em">

<ul><li><cite id="CITEREFAshby1956" class="citation book cs1"><a href="W._Ross_Ashby" title="W. Ross Ashby">Ashby, W. Ross</a> (1956). <i>An Introduction to Cybernetics</i>. Chapman & Hall. <a href="OCLC_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="OCLC (identifier)">OCLC</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://search.worldcat.org/oclc/522174">522174</a>.</cite></li>

<li><cite id="CITEREFAshby1970" class="citation book cs1"><a href="W._Ross_Ashby" title="W. Ross Ashby">Ashby, W. Ross</a> (1970). <i>Design for a Brain: The Origin of Adaptive Behavior</i> (2nd ed.). Chapman & Hall. <a href="OCLC_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="OCLC (identifier)">OCLC</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://search.worldcat.org/oclc/19378401">19378401</a>.</cite></li>

<li><cite id="CITEREFBatesonBateson2000" class="citation book cs1"><a href="Gregory_Bateson" title="Gregory Bateson">Bateson, Gregory</a>; Bateson, Mary C. (2000) [1972]. <i>Steps to an Ecology of Mind</i> (University of Chicago Press ed.). University of Chicago Press. <a href="ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <bdi>9780226039060</bdi>. <a href="OCLC_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="OCLC (identifier)">OCLC</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://search.worldcat.org/oclc/42295815">42295815</a>.</cite></li>

<li><cite id="CITEREFvon_Bertalanffy1968" class="citation book cs1"><a href="Ludwig_von_Bertalanffy" title="Ludwig von Bertalanffy">von Bertalanffy, Ludwig</a> (1968). <i>General System Theory</i>. New York: George Braziller.</cite></li>

<li><cite id="CITEREFBurks1970" class="citation book cs1"><a href="Arthur_Burks" title="Arthur Burks">Burks, Arthur</a> (1970). <i>Essays on Cellular Automata</i>. University of Illinois Press.</cite></li>

<li><cite id="CITEREFCherry1957" class="citation book cs1"><a href="Colin_Cherry" title="Colin Cherry">Cherry, Colin</a> (1957). <i>On Human Communication</i>. Cambridge: The MIT Press.</cite></li>

<li><cite id="CITEREFChurchman1971" class="citation book cs1"><a href="C._West_Churchman" title="C. West Churchman">Churchman, C. West</a> (1971). <i>The Design of Inquiring Systems</i>. New York: Basic Books.</cite></li>

<li><cite id="CITEREFCheckland1999" class="citation book cs1"><a href="Peter_Checkland" title="Peter Checkland">Checkland, Peter</a> (1999). <i>Systems Thinking, Systems Practice</i>. Wiley.</cite></li>

<li><cite id="CITEREFGleick1997" class="citation book cs1"><a href="James_Gleick" title="James Gleick">Gleick, James</a> (1997). <i>Chaos: Making a New Science</i>. Random House.</cite></li>

<li><cite id="CITEREFHaken1983" class="citation book cs1"><a href="Hermann_Haken" title="Hermann Haken">Haken, Hermann</a> (1983). <i>Synergetics: An Introduction</i> (3rd ed.). Springer.</cite></li>

<li><cite id="CITEREFHolland1992" class="citation book cs1"><a href="John_H._Holland" class="mw-redirect" title="John H. Holland">Holland, John H.</a> (1992). <i>Adaptation in Natural and Artificial Systems</i>. Cambridge: The MIT Press.</cite></li>

<li><cite id="CITEREFLuhmann2013" class="citation book cs1"><a href="Niklas_Luhmann" title="Niklas Luhmann">Luhmann, Niklas</a> (2013). <i>Introduction to Systems Theory</i>. Polity.</cite></li>

<li><cite id="CITEREFMacy1991" class="citation book cs1"><a href="Joanna_Macy" title="Joanna Macy">Macy, Joanna</a> (1991). <i>Mutual Causality in Buddhism and General Systems Theory</i>. SUNY Press.</cite></li>

<li><cite id="CITEREFMaturanaVarela1980" class="citation book cs1"><a href="Humberto_Maturana" title="Humberto Maturana">Maturana, Humberto</a>; Varela, Francisco (1980). <i>Autopoiesis and Cognition</i>. Springer Science & Business Media.</cite></li>

<li><cite id="CITEREFMiller1978" class="citation book cs1"><a href="James_Grier_Miller" title="James Grier Miller">Miller, James Grier</a> (1978). <i>Living Systems</i>. McGraw-Hill.</cite></li>

<li><cite id="CITEREFvon_Neumann1951" class="citation book cs1"><a href="John_von_Neumann" title="John von Neumann">von Neumann, John</a> (1951). "The General and Logical Theory of Automata". <i>Cerebral Mechanisms in Behavior</i>. pp. <span class="nowrap">1–</span>41.</cite></li>

<li><cite id="CITEREFvon_Neumann1956" class="citation journal cs1"><a href="John_von_Neumann" title="John von Neumann">von Neumann, John</a> (1956). "Probabilistic Logics and the Synthesis of Reliable Organisms from Unreliable Components". <i>Automata Studies</i>. <b>34</b>: <span class="nowrap">43–</span>98.</cite></li>

<li><cite id="CITEREFvon_Neumann1966" class="citation book cs1"><a href="John_von_Neumann" title="John von Neumann">von Neumann, John</a> (1966). Burks, Arthur (ed.). <i>Theory of Self-Reproducing Automata</i>. Illinois University Press.</cite></li>

<li><cite id="CITEREFParsons1951" class="citation book cs1"><a href="Talcott_Parsons" title="Talcott Parsons">Parsons, Talcott</a> (1951). <i>The Social System</i>. The Free Press.</cite></li>

<li><cite id="CITEREFPrigogine1980" class="citation book cs1"><a href="Ilya_Prigogine" title="Ilya Prigogine">Prigogine, Ilya</a> (1980). <i>From Being to Becoming</i>. W. H. Freeman & Co.</cite></li>

<li><cite id="CITEREFSimon1962" class="citation journal cs1"><a href="Herbert_A._Simon" title="Herbert A. Simon">Simon, Herbert A.</a> (1962). "The Architecture of Complexity". <i>Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society</i>. <b>106</b>.</cite></li>

<li><cite id="CITEREFSimon1996" class="citation book cs1"><a href="Herbert_A._Simon" title="Herbert A. Simon">Simon, Herbert A.</a> (1996). <i>The Sciences of the Artificial</i>. Vol. 136 (3rd ed.). The MIT Press.</cite></li>

<li><cite id="CITEREFShannonWeaver1998" class="citation book cs1"><a href="Claude_Shannon" title="Claude Shannon">Shannon, Claude</a>; Weaver, Warren (1998) [1st Pub. 1949]. <i>The Mathematical Theory of Communication</i>. <a href="ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <bdi>0-252-72546-8</bdi>.</cite></li>

<li><cite id="CITEREFShannon1948" class="citation journal cs1"><a href="Claude_Shannon" title="Claude Shannon">Shannon, Claude</a> (1948). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/6773024">"A Mathematical Theory of Communication"</a>. <i>Bell System Technical Journal</i>. <b>27</b> (3): <span class="nowrap">379–</span>423. <a href="Doi_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Doi (identifier)">doi</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.1002%2Fj.1538-7305.1948.tb01338.x">10.1002/j.1538-7305.1948.tb01338.x</a>.</cite></li>

<li><cite id="CITEREFThom1972" class="citation book cs1"><a href="Ren%C3%A9_Thom" title="René Thom">Thom, René</a> (1972). <i>Structural Stability and Morphogenesis</i>. Reading, Massachusetts: Addison-Wesley.</cite></li>

<li><cite id="CITEREFVolk1995" class="citation book cs1"><a href="Tyler_Volk" title="Tyler Volk">Volk, Tyler</a> (1995). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://cup.columbia.edu/book/metapatterns/9780231067508"><i>Metapatterns: Across Space, Time, and Mind</i></a>. Columbia University Press. <a href="ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <bdi>978-0-231-53262-4</bdi>.</cite></li>

<li><cite id="CITEREFWeaver1948" class="citation journal cs1"><a href="Warren_Weaver" title="Warren Weaver">Weaver, Warren</a> (1948). "Science and Complexity". <i>The American Scientist</i>. <b>36</b> (4): <span class="nowrap">536–</span>544. <a href="PMID_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="PMID (identifier)">PMID</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18882675">18882675</a>.</cite></li>

<li><cite id="CITEREFWiener1965" class="citation book cs1"><a href="Norbert_Wiener" title="Norbert Wiener">Wiener, Norbert</a> (1965). <i>Cybernetics: Or the Control and Communication in the Animal and the Machine</i> (2nd ed.). The MIT Press.</cite></li>

<li><cite id="CITEREFWolfram2002" class="citation book cs1"><a href="Stephen_Wolfram" title="Stephen Wolfram">Wolfram, Stephen</a> (2002). <i>A New Kind of Science</i>. Wolfram Media.</cite></li>

<li><cite id="CITEREFZadeh1962" class="citation journal cs1"><a href="Lofti_Zadeh" class="mw-redirect" title="Lofti Zadeh">Zadeh, Lofti</a> (1962). "From Circuit Theory to System Theory". <i>Proceedings of the IRE</i>. <b>50</b> (5): <span class="nowrap">856–</span>865. <a href="Doi_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Doi (identifier)">doi</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.1109%2FJRPROC.1962.288302">10.1109/JRPROC.1962.288302</a>.</cite></li></ul>

</div>

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="External_links">External links</h2></div>

/* start https://en.wikipedia.org/ */

.mw-parser-output .side-box{margin:4px 0;box-sizing:border-box;border:1px solid #aaa;font-size:88%;line-height:1.25em;background-color:var(--background-color-interactive-subtle,#f8f9fa);display:flow-root}.mw-parser-output .infobox .side-box{font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .side-box-abovebelow,.mw-parser-output .side-box-text{padding:0.25em 0.9em}.mw-parser-output .side-box-image{padding:2px 0 2px 0.9em;text-align:center}.mw-parser-output .side-box-imageright{padding:2px 0.9em 2px 0;text-align:center}@media(min-width:500px){.mw-parser-output .side-box-flex{display:flex;align-items:center}.mw-parser-output .side-box-text{flex:1;min-width:0}}@media(min-width:720px){.mw-parser-output .side-box{width:238px}.mw-parser-output .side-box-right{clear:right;float:right;margin-left:1em}.mw-parser-output .side-box-left{margin-right:1em}}

/* end https://en.wikipedia.org/ */

</style><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1250146164">

/* start https://en.wikipedia.org/ */

.mw-parser-output .sister-box .side-box-abovebelow{padding:0.75em 0;text-align:center}.mw-parser-output .sister-box .side-box-abovebelow>b{display:block}.mw-parser-output .sister-box .side-box-text>ul{border-top:1px solid #aaa;padding:0.75em 0;width:217px;margin:0 auto}.mw-parser-output .sister-box .side-box-text>ul>li{min-height:31px}.mw-parser-output .sister-logo{display:inline-block;width:31px;line-height:31px;vertical-align:middle;text-align:center}.mw-parser-output .sister-link{display:inline-block;margin-left:4px;width:182px;vertical-align:middle}@media print{body.ns-0 .mw-parser-output .sistersitebox{display:none!important}}@media screen{html.skin-theme-clientpref-night .mw-parser-output .sistersitebox img[src*="Wiktionary-logo-v2.svg"]{background-color:white}}@media screen and (prefers-color-scheme:dark){html.skin-theme-clientpref-os .mw-parser-output .sistersitebox img[src*="Wiktionary-logo-v2.svg"]{background-color:white}}

/* end https://en.wikipedia.org/ */

</style>

<ul><li><span class="noviewer" typeof="mw:File"></span> Data related to <a href="https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q269699" class="extiw external" title="d:Q269699">Systems theory</a> at Wikidata</li>

<li><a class="external text external" href="https://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Systems_Thinking">Systems Thinking</a> at Wikiversity</li>

<li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/SYSTHEOR.html">Systems theory</a> at Principia Cybernetica Web</li>

<li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.unescap.org/sites/default/files/Introduction%20to%20systems%20thinking%20tools_Eng.pdf">Introduction to systems thinking</a> – 55 slides</li></ul>

<p><b>Organizations</b>

</p>

<ul><li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.isss.org/">International Society for the System Sciences</a></li>

<li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.necsi.edu/">New England Complex Systems Institute</a></li>

<li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.systemdynamics.org/">System Dynamics Society</a></li></ul>

/* start https://en.wikipedia.org/ */

.mw-parser-output .navbox{box-sizing:border-box;border:1px solid #a2a9b1;width:100%;clear:both;font-size:88%;text-align:center;padding:1px;margin:1em auto 0}.mw-parser-output .navbox .navbox{margin-top:0}.mw-parser-output .navbox+.navbox,.mw-parser-output .navbox+.navbox-styles+.navbox{margin-top:-1px}.mw-parser-output .navbox-inner,.mw-parser-output .navbox-subgroup{width:100%}.mw-parser-output .navbox-group,.mw-parser-output .navbox-title,.mw-parser-output .navbox-abovebelow{padding:0.25em 1em;line-height:1.5em;text-align:center}.mw-parser-output .navbox-group{white-space:nowrap;text-align:right}.mw-parser-output .navbox,.mw-parser-output .navbox-subgroup{background-color:#fdfdfd}.mw-parser-output .navbox-list{line-height:1.5em;border-color:#fdfdfd}.mw-parser-output .navbox-list-with-group{text-align:left;border-left-width:2px;border-left-style:solid}.mw-parser-output tr+tr>.navbox-abovebelow,.mw-parser-output tr+tr>.navbox-group,.mw-parser-output tr+tr>.navbox-image,.mw-parser-output tr+tr>.navbox-list{border-top:2px solid #fdfdfd}.mw-parser-output .navbox-title{background-color:#ccf}.mw-parser-output .navbox-abovebelow,.mw-parser-output .navbox-group,.mw-parser-output .navbox-subgroup .navbox-title{background-color:#ddf}.mw-parser-output .navbox-subgroup .navbox-group,.mw-parser-output .navbox-subgroup .navbox-abovebelow{background-color:#e6e6ff}.mw-parser-output .navbox-even{background-color:#f7f7f7}.mw-parser-output .navbox-odd{background-color:transparent}.mw-parser-output .navbox .hlist td dl,.mw-parser-output .navbox .hlist td ol,.mw-parser-output .navbox .hlist td ul,.mw-parser-output .navbox td.hlist dl,.mw-parser-output .navbox td.hlist ol,.mw-parser-output .navbox td.hlist ul{padding:0.125em 0}.mw-parser-output .navbox .navbar{display:block;font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .navbox-title .navbar{float:left;text-align:left;margin-right:0.5em}body.skin--responsive .mw-parser-output .navbox-image img{max-width:none!important}@media print{body.ns-0 .mw-parser-output .navbox{display:none!important}}

/* end https://en.wikipedia.org/ */

</style></div><div role="navigation" class="navbox" aria-labelledby="Systems_science494" style="padding:3px"><table class="nowraplinks hlist mw-collapsible mw-collapsed navbox-inner" style="border-spacing:0;background:transparent;color:inherit"><tbody><tr><th scope="col" class="navbox-title" colspan="2"><div id="Systems_science494" style="font-size:114%;margin:0 4em"><a href="Systems_science" title="Systems science">Systems science</a></div></th></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%"><a href="System" title="System">System</a><br>types</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em">

<li><a href="Biological_system" title="Biological system">Biological</a></li>

<li><a href="Complex_system" title="Complex system">Complex</a></li>

<li><a href="Coupled_human%E2%80%93environment_system" title="Coupled human–environment system">Coupled human–environment</a></li>

<li><a href="Ecosystem" title="Ecosystem">Ecological</a></li>

<li><a href="Economic_system" title="Economic system">Economic</a></li>

<li><a href="Information_system" title="Information system">Information</a></li>

<li><a href="Multi-agent_system" title="Multi-agent system">Multi-agent</a></li>

<li><a href="Nervous_system" title="Nervous system">Nervous</a></li>

<li><a href="Recommender_system" title="Recommender system">Recommender</a></li>

<li><a href="Social_system" title="Social system">Social</a></li></ul>

</div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Concepts</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em">

<ul><li><a href="Doubling_time" title="Doubling time">Doubling time</a></li>

<li><a href="Twelve_leverage_points" title="Twelve leverage points">Leverage points</a></li>

<li><a href="Limiting_factor" title="Limiting factor">Limiting factor</a></li>

<li><a href="Negative_feedback" title="Negative feedback">Negative feedback</a></li>

<li><a href="Positive_feedback" title="Positive feedback">Positive feedback</a></li></ul>

</div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Theoretical<br>fields</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"></div><table class="nowraplinks navbox-subgroup" style="border-spacing:0"><tbody><tr><td colspan="2" class="navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em">

<ul><li><a href="Control_theory" title="Control theory">Control theory</a></li>

<li><a href="Cybernetics" title="Cybernetics">Cybernetics</a></li>

<li><a href="Earth_system_science" title="Earth system science">Earth system science</a></li>

<li><a href="Living_systems" title="Living systems">Living systems</a></li>

<li><a href="Sociotechnical_system" title="Sociotechnical system">Sociotechnical system</a></li>

<li><a href="Systemics" title="Systemics">Systemics</a></li>

<li><a href="Urban_metabolism" title="Urban metabolism">Urban metabolism</a></li>

<li><a href="World-systems_theory" title="World-systems theory">World-systems theory</a></li></ul>

</div></td></tr><tr><td colspan="2" class="navbox-list navbox-even" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em">

<ul><li><a href="Systems_analysis" title="Systems analysis">Analysis</a></li>

<li><a href="Systems_biology" title="Systems biology">Biology</a></li>

<li><a href="System_dynamics" title="System dynamics">Dynamics</a></li>

<li><a href="Systems_ecology" title="Systems ecology">Ecology</a></li>

<li><a href="Systems_engineering" title="Systems engineering">Engineering</a></li>

<li><a href="Systems_neuroscience" title="Systems neuroscience">Neuroscience</a></li>

<li><a href="Systems_pharmacology" title="Systems pharmacology">Pharmacology</a></li>

<li><a href="Systems_philosophy" title="Systems philosophy">Philosophy</a></li>

<li><a href="Systems_psychology" title="Systems psychology">Psychology</a></li>

<li> (<a href="Systems_thinking" title="Systems thinking">Systems thinking</a>)</li></ul>

</div></td></tr></tbody></table><div></div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%"><a href="List_of_systems_scientists" title="List of systems scientists">Scientists</a></th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em">

<ul><li><a href="Russell_L._Ackoff" title="Russell L. Ackoff">Russell L. Ackoff</a></li>

<li><a href="Victor_Aladjev" title="Victor Aladjev">Victor Aladjev</a></li>

<li><a href="William_Ross_Ashby" class="mw-redirect" title="William Ross Ashby">William Ross Ashby</a></li>

<li><a href="Ruzena_Bajcsy" title="Ruzena Bajcsy">Ruzena Bajcsy</a></li>

<li><a href="B%C3%A9la_H._B%C3%A1n%C3%A1thy" title="Béla H. Bánáthy">Béla H. Bánáthy</a></li>

<li><a href="Gregory_Bateson" title="Gregory Bateson">Gregory Bateson</a></li>

<li><a href="Anthony_Stafford_Beer" class="mw-redirect" title="Anthony Stafford Beer">Anthony Stafford Beer</a></li>

<li><a href="Richard_E._Bellman" title="Richard E. Bellman">Richard E. Bellman</a></li>

<li><a href="Ludwig_von_Bertalanffy" title="Ludwig von Bertalanffy">Ludwig von Bertalanffy</a></li>

<li><a href="Margaret_Boden" title="Margaret Boden">Margaret Boden</a></li>

<li><a href="Alexander_Bogdanov" title="Alexander Bogdanov">Alexander Bogdanov</a></li>

<li><a href="Kenneth_E._Boulding" title="Kenneth E. Boulding">Kenneth E. Boulding</a></li>

<li><a href="Murray_Bowen" title="Murray Bowen">Murray Bowen</a></li>

<li><a href="Kathleen_Carley" title="Kathleen Carley">Kathleen Carley</a></li>

<li><a href="Mary_Cartwright" title="Mary Cartwright">Mary Cartwright</a></li>

<li><a href="C._West_Churchman" title="C. West Churchman">C. West Churchman</a></li>

<li><a href="Manfred_Clynes" title="Manfred Clynes">Manfred Clynes</a></li>

<li><a href="George_Dantzig" title="George Dantzig">George Dantzig</a></li>

<li><a href="Edsger_W._Dijkstra" title="Edsger W. Dijkstra">Edsger W. Dijkstra</a></li>

<li><a href="Fred_Emery" title="Fred Emery">Fred Emery</a></li>

<li><a href="Heinz_von_Foerster" title="Heinz von Foerster">Heinz von Foerster</a></li>

<li><a href="Stephanie_Forrest" title="Stephanie Forrest">Stephanie Forrest</a></li>

<li><a href="Jay_Wright_Forrester" title="Jay Wright Forrester">Jay Wright Forrester</a></li>

<li><a href="Barbara_J._Grosz" title="Barbara J. Grosz">Barbara Grosz</a></li>

<li><a href="Charles_A._S._Hall" title="Charles A. S. Hall">Charles A. S. Hall</a></li>

<li><a href="Mike_Jackson_(systems_scientist)" title="Mike Jackson (systems scientist)">Mike Jackson</a></li>

<li><a href="Lydia_Kavraki" title="Lydia Kavraki">Lydia Kavraki</a></li>

<li><a href="James_J._Kay" title="James J. Kay">James J. Kay</a></li>

<li><a href="Faina_Mihajlovna_Kirillova" class="mw-redirect" title="Faina Mihajlovna Kirillova">Faina M. Kirillova</a></li>

<li><a href="George_Klir" title="George Klir">George Klir</a></li>

<li><a href="Allenna_Leonard" title="Allenna Leonard">Allenna Leonard</a></li>

<li><a href="Edward_Norton_Lorenz" title="Edward Norton Lorenz">Edward Norton Lorenz</a></li>

<li><a href="Niklas_Luhmann" title="Niklas Luhmann">Niklas Luhmann</a></li>

<li><a href="Humberto_Maturana" title="Humberto Maturana">Humberto Maturana</a></li>

<li><a href="Margaret_Mead" title="Margaret Mead">Margaret Mead</a></li>

<li><a href="Donella_Meadows" title="Donella Meadows">Donella Meadows</a></li>

<li><a href="Mihajlo_D._Mesarovic" title="Mihajlo D. Mesarovic">Mihajlo D. Mesarovic</a></li>

<li><a href="James_Grier_Miller" title="James Grier Miller">James Grier Miller</a></li>

<li><a href="Radhika_Nagpal" title="Radhika Nagpal">Radhika Nagpal</a></li>

<li><a href="Howard_T._Odum" title="Howard T. Odum">Howard T. Odum</a></li>

<li><a href="Talcott_Parsons" title="Talcott Parsons">Talcott Parsons</a></li>

<li><a href="Ilya_Prigogine" title="Ilya Prigogine">Ilya Prigogine</a></li>

<li><a href="Qian_Xuesen" title="Qian Xuesen">Qian Xuesen</a></li>

<li><a href="Anatol_Rapoport" title="Anatol Rapoport">Anatol Rapoport</a></li>

<li><a href="John_Seddon" title="John Seddon">John Seddon</a></li>

<li><a href="Peter_Senge" title="Peter Senge">Peter Senge</a></li>

<li><a href="Claude_Shannon" title="Claude Shannon">Claude Shannon</a></li>

<li><a href="Katia_Sycara" title="Katia Sycara">Katia Sycara</a></li>

<li><a href="Eric_Trist" title="Eric Trist">Eric Trist</a></li>

<li><a href="Francisco_Varela" title="Francisco Varela">Francisco Varela</a></li>

<li><a href="Manuela_M._Veloso" title="Manuela M. Veloso">Manuela M. Veloso</a></li>

<li><a href="Kevin_Warwick" title="Kevin Warwick">Kevin Warwick</a></li>

<li><a href="Norbert_Wiener" title="Norbert Wiener">Norbert Wiener</a></li>

<li><a href="Jennifer_Wilby" title="Jennifer Wilby">Jennifer Wilby</a></li>

<li><a href="Anthony_Wilden" title="Anthony Wilden">Anthony Wilden</a></li></ul>

</div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Applications</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em">

<ul><li><a href="Systems_theory_in_anthropology" title="Systems theory in anthropology">Systems theory in anthropology</a></li>

<li><a href="Systems_theory_in_archaeology" title="Systems theory in archaeology">Systems theory in archaeology</a></li>

<li><a href="Systems_theory_in_political_science" title="Systems theory in political science">Systems theory in political science</a></li></ul>

</div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Organizations</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em">

<li><a href="Principia_Cybernetica" title="Principia Cybernetica">Principia Cybernetica</a></li></ul>

</div></td></tr><tr><td class="navbox-abovebelow" colspan="2"><div>

<ul><li><span class="noviewer" typeof="mw:File"><span title="Category"></span></span> <b>Category</b></li>

<li><span class="noviewer" typeof="mw:File"></span> <b><a href="Portal%3ASystems_science" title="Portal:Systems science">Portal</a></b></li>

<li><span class="noviewer" typeof="mw:File"><span title="Commons page"></span></span> <b><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Systems_theory" class="extiw external" title="commons:Category:Systems theory">Commons</a></b></li></ul>

</div></td></tr></tbody></table></div>

<div class="navbox-styles"></div><div role="navigation" class="navbox" aria-labelledby="Digital_humanities22" style="padding:3px"><table class="nowraplinks mw-collapsible autocollapse navbox-inner" style="border-spacing:0;background:transparent;color:inherit"><tbody><tr><th scope="col" class="navbox-title" colspan="2"><div id="Digital_humanities22" style="font-size:114%;margin:0 4em"><a href="Digital_humanities" title="Digital humanities">Digital humanities</a></div></th></tr><tr><td colspan="2" class="navbox-list navbox-odd hlist" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em">

<ul><li><a href="Computational_archaeology" title="Computational archaeology">Computational archaeology</a></li>

<li><a href="Computational_philosophy" title="Computational philosophy">Computational philosophy</a></li>

<li><a href="Computational_theory_of_mind" title="Computational theory of mind">Computational theory of mind</a></li>

<li><a href="Computers_and_writing" title="Computers and writing">Computers and writing</a></li>

<li><a href="Cultural_analytics" title="Cultural analytics">Cultural analytics</a></li>

<li><a href="Cybertext" title="Cybertext">Cybertext</a></li>

<li><a href="Digital_classics" title="Digital classics">Digital classics</a></li>

<li><a href="Digital_history" title="Digital history">Digital history</a></li>

<li><a href="Digital_library" title="Digital library">Digital library</a></li>

<li><a href="Digital_Medievalist" title="Digital Medievalist">Digital Medievalist</a></li>

<li><a href="Digital_ontology" class="mw-redirect" title="Digital ontology">Digital ontology</a></li>

<li><a href="Digital_physics" title="Digital physics">Digital physics</a></li>

<li><a href="Digital_religion" title="Digital religion">Digital religion</a></li>

<li><a href="Digital_rhetoric" title="Digital rhetoric">Digital rhetoric</a></li>

<li><a href="Digital_scholarship" title="Digital scholarship">Digital scholarship</a></li>

<li><a href="Digital_theology" title="Digital theology">Digital theology</a></li>

<li><a href="Digitization" title="Digitization">Digitization</a></li>

<li><a href="E-research" title="E-research">E-research</a></li>

<li><a href="Electronic_literature" title="Electronic literature">Electronic literature</a></li>

<li><a href="Humanistic_informatics" title="Humanistic informatics">Humanistic informatics</a></li>

<li><a href="New_media" title="New media">New media</a></li>

<li><a href="Philosophy_of_computer_science" title="Philosophy of computer science">Philosophy of computer science</a></li>

<li><a href="Semantic_Web" title="Semantic Web">Semantic Web</a></li>

<li><a href="Text_Encoding_Initiative" title="Text Encoding Initiative">Text Encoding Initiative</a></li>

<li><a href="Transliteracy" title="Transliteracy">Transliteracy</a></li></ul>

</div></td></tr></tbody></table></div>

<div class="navbox-styles"></div><div role="navigation" class="navbox" aria-labelledby="Scientific_modelling114" style="padding:3px"><table class="nowraplinks mw-collapsible autocollapse navbox-inner" style="border-spacing:0;background:transparent;color:inherit"><tbody><tr><th scope="col" class="navbox-title" colspan="2"><div id="Scientific_modelling114" style="font-size:114%;margin:0 4em"><a href="Scientific_modelling" title="Scientific modelling">Scientific modelling</a></div></th></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%"><a href="Modelling_biological_systems" title="Modelling biological systems">Biological</a></th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd hlist" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em">

<ul><li><a href="Cellular_model" title="Cellular model">Cellular model</a></li>

<li><a href="Chemical_process_modeling" title="Chemical process modeling">Chemical process modeling</a></li>

<li><a href="Ecosystem_model" title="Ecosystem model">Ecosystem model</a></li>

<li><a href="Mathematical_modelling_of_infectious_disease" class="mw-redirect" title="Mathematical modelling of infectious disease">Infectious disease model</a></li>

<li><a href="Metabolic_network_modelling" title="Metabolic network modelling">Metabolic network modelling</a></li>

<li><a href="Modelling_biological_systems" title="Modelling biological systems">Modelling biological systems</a></li>

<li><a href="Protein_structure_prediction" title="Protein structure prediction">Protein structure prediction</a></li></ul>

</div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Environmental</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even hlist" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em">

<ul><li><a href="Atmospheric_model" title="Atmospheric model">Atmospheric model</a></li>

<li><a href="Chemical_transport_model" title="Chemical transport model">Chemical transport model</a></li>

<li><a href="Climate_model" title="Climate model">Climate model</a></li>

<li><a href="Geologic_modelling" class="mw-redirect" title="Geologic modelling">Geologic modelling</a></li>

<li><a href="Groundwater_model" title="Groundwater model">Groundwater model</a></li>

<li><a href="Hydrological_model" title="Hydrological model">Hydrological model</a></li>

<li><a href="Hydrological_transport_model" title="Hydrological transport model">Hydrological transport model</a></li>

<li><a href="Modular_Ocean_Model" title="Modular Ocean Model">Modular Ocean Model</a></li>

<li><a href="Wildfire_modeling" title="Wildfire modeling">Wildfire modeling</a></li></ul>

</div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Sustainability</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd hlist" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em">

<ul><li><a href="Energy_modeling" title="Energy modeling">Energy modeling</a></li>

<li><a href="Integrated_assessment_modelling" title="Integrated assessment modelling">Integrated assessment modelling</a></li>

<li><a href="Population_model" title="Population model">Population model</a></li></ul>

</div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Social</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even hlist" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em">

<ul><li><a href="Biopsychosocial_model" title="Biopsychosocial model">Biopsychosocial model</a></li>

<li><a href="Business_process_modelling" class="mw-redirect" title="Business process modelling">Business process modelling</a></li>

<li><a href="Catastrophe_modeling" title="Catastrophe modeling">Catastrophe modeling</a></li>

<li><a href="Construction_and_management_simulation" title="Construction and management simulation">Construction and management simulation</a></li>

<li><a href="Crime_mapping" title="Crime mapping">Crime mapping</a></li>

<li><a href="Economic_model" title="Economic model">Economic model</a></li>

<li><a href="Input%E2%80%93output_model" title="Input–output model">Input–output model</a></li></ul>

</div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Related topics</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd hlist" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em">

<ul><li><a href="Data_visualization" class="mw-redirect" title="Data visualization">Data visualization</a></li>

<li><a href="List_of_computer_simulation_software" title="List of computer simulation software">List of computer simulation software</a></li>

<li><a href="Mathematical_modeling" class="mw-redirect" title="Mathematical modeling">Mathematical modeling</a></li>

<li><a href="Systems_thinking" title="Systems thinking">Systems thinking</a></li>

<li><a href="Visual_analytics" title="Visual analytics">Visual analytics</a></li></ul>

</div></td></tr></tbody></table></div>

/* start https://en.wikipedia.org/ */

.mw-parser-output .tooltip-dotted{border-bottom:1px dotted;cursor:help}

/* end https://en.wikipedia.org/ */

</style></div><div role="navigation" class="navbox authority-control" aria-labelledby="Authority_control_databases_frameless&#124;text-top&#124;10px&#124;alt=Edit_this_at_Wikidata&#124;link=https&#58;//www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q269699#identifiers&#124;class=noprint&#124;Edit_this_at_Wikidata1720" style="padding:3px"><table class="nowraplinks hlist mw-collapsible autocollapse navbox-inner" style="border-spacing:0;background:transparent;color:inherit"><tbody><tr><th scope="col" class="navbox-title" colspan="2"><div id="Authority_control_databases_frameless&#124;text-top&#124;10px&#124;alt=Edit_this_at_Wikidata&#124;link=https&#58;//www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q269699#identifiers&#124;class=noprint&#124;Edit_this_at_Wikidata1720" style="font-size:114%;margin:0 4em">Authority control databases </div></th></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">National</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"><ul><li><span class="uid"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://d-nb.info/gnd/4058812-9">Germany</a></span></li><li><span class="uid"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://id.loc.gov/authorities/sh85131743">United States</a></span></li><li><span class="uid"><span class="rt-commentedText tooltip tooltip-dotted" title="Systèmes, Théorie des"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://catalogue.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/cb11934347x">France</a></span></span></li><li><span class="uid"><span class="rt-commentedText tooltip tooltip-dotted" title="Systèmes, Théorie des"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://data.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/cb11934347x">BnF data</a></span></span></li><li><span class="uid"><span class="rt-commentedText tooltip tooltip-dotted" title="teorie systémů"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://aleph.nkp.cz/F/?func=find-c&local_base=aut&ccl_term=ica=ph116432&CON_LNG=ENG">Czech Republic</a></span></span></li><li><span class="uid"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://kopkatalogs.lv/F?func=direct&local_base=lnc10&doc_number=000053049&P_CON_LNG=ENG">Latvia</a></span></li><li><span class="uid"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.nli.org.il/en/authorities/987007555929005171">Israel</a></span></li></ul></div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Other</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"><ul><li><span class="uid"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://esu.com.ua/search_articles.php?id=15136">Encyclopedia of Modern Ukraine</a></span></li><li><span class="uid"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://lux.collections.yale.edu/view/place/b407f634-34b3-4ea2-9fbe-c59b8dcb9960">Yale LUX</a></span></li></ul></div></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div><div><div class="zim-footer">

This article is issued from <a class="external text" title="Last edited on 2025-08-01" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/?title=Systems_theory&oldid=1303654534">Wikipedia</a>. The text is available under <a class="external text" href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en">Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0</a> unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.

</div>

</div></div>

</div>

</main>

</div>

</body></html>