The History and Status of General Systems Theory
Ludwig Von Bertalanffy
The Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 15, No. 4, General Systems Theory
407-426.
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Thu Apr 1 2004
The History and Status of
General Theory
LUDWIG VON BERTALANFFY
Center for Theoretical Biology,
Q
State University of New York at Buffalo
HISTORICAL PRELUDE
In order to evaluate the modern "systems approach," it is advisable
to look at the systems idea not as an ephemeral fashion or recent technique,
but in the context of the history of ideas. (For an introduction and a survey
of the field see with an extensive bibliography and Suggestions for
Further Reading in the various topics of general systems theory.)
In a certain sense it can be said that the notion of system is as old as
European philosophy. If we try to define the central motif in the birth of
philosophical-scientific thinking with the lonian pre-Socratics of the sixth
century B.C., one way to spell it out would be as follows. Man in early cul-
ture, and even primitives of today, experience themselves as being "thrown"
into a hostile world, governed by chaotic and incomprehensible demonic
forces which, at best, may be propitiated or influenced by way of magical
practices. Philosophy and its descendant, science, was born when the early
Greeks learned to consider or find, in the experienced world, an order or
which was intelligible and, hence, controllable by thought and
rational action.
One formulation of this cosmic order was the Aristotelian world view
its holistic and notions. statement, "The is
more than the sum of its parts," is a definition of the basic system problem
which is still valid. Aristotelian teleology eliminated in the later
ment of Western science, the problems contained in it, such as the
order and of living systems, were negated and by-passed
rather than solved. Hence, the basic system is still not obsolete.
A detailed investigation would enumerate a long array of thinkers
who, in one way or another, contributed notions to what nowadays we call
systems theory. If we speak of hierarchic order, we use a term introduced
by the Christian mystic, Dionysius the Aeropagite, although he was
* This article is reprinted, with permission, from George J. ed., Trends in Genera!
Systems Theory (New York: Wiley-Interscience, 1972).
408 Academy of Management Journal December
lating about the choirs of angels and the organism of the Church. Nicholas
of Cusa that profound thinker of the fifteenth century, linking Medieval
mysticism with the first beginnings of modern science, introduced the notion
of the coincidentia oppositorum, the opposition or, indeed, fight among the
parts within a whole which, nevertheless, forms a unity of higher order.
Leibniz's hierarchy of monads looks quite like that of modern systems; his
universalis presages an expanded mathematics which is not limited
to quantitative or numerical expressions and is able to formalize all con-
ceptual thinking. and Marx emphasized the dialectic structure of
thought and of the universe it produces: the deep insight that no proposition
can exhaust reality but only approaches its coincidence of opposites by
the dialectic process of thesis, antithesis, and synthesis. Gustav Fechner,
known as the author of the psychophysical law, elaborated in the way of
the nature philosophers of the nineteenth century supraindividual organi-
zations of higher order than the usual objects of observation; for example,
life communities and the entire earth, thus romantically anticipating the
ecosystems of modern parlance. Incidentally, the present writer wrote a
doctoral thesis on this topic in 1925.
Even such a rapid and superficial survey as the preceding one tends
to show that the problems with which we are nowadays concerned under
the term "system" were not "born yesterday" out of current questicns of
mathematics, science, and technology. Rather, they are a contemporary
expression of perennial problems which have been recognized for centuries
and discussed in the language available at the time.
One way to circumscribe the Scientific Revolution of the
seventeenth centuries is to say that it replaced the descriptive-metaphysical
conception of the universe epitomized in Aristotle's doctrine by the mathe-
matical-positivistic or Galilean conception. That is, the vision of the world
as a telelogical cosmos was replaced by the description of events in causal,
mathematical laws.
We say "replaced," not "eliminated," for the Aristotelian dictum of
the whole that is more than its parts still remained. We must strongly empha-
size that order or organization of a whole or system, transcending its parts
when these are considered in isolation, is nothing metaphysical, not an
anthropomorphic superstition or a philosophical speculation; it is a fact
of observation encountered whenever we look at a living organism, a social
group, or even an atom.
Science, however, was not well prepared to deal with this problem.
The second maxim of Descartes' de la Methode was "to break
down every problem into as many separate simple elements as might be
possible." This, similarly formulated by as the "resolutive" method,
was the conceptual "paradigm" of science from its foundation to
1972 The History and Status of General Systems Theory 409
modern laboratory work: that is, to resolve and reduce complex phenomena
into elementary parts and processes.
This method worked admirably insofar as observed events were
apt to be split isolable causal chains, that is, relations between
or a few variables. It was at the root of the enormous success of physics
and the consequent technology. But questions of many-variable problems
always remained. This was the case even in the three-body problem of
mechanics; the situation was aggravated when the organization of the living
organism or even of atom, beyond the simplest proton-electron system
of hydrogen, was concerned.
Two principal ideas were advanced in order to deal with the problem
of order or organization. One was the comparison with man-made machines;
the other was to conceive of order as a product of chance. The first was
epitomized by Descartes' bete machine, later expanded to the
of Lamettrie. The other is expressed by the Darwinian idea of
natural selection. Again, both ideas were highly successful. The theory of
the living organism as a machine in its various disguises-from a mechani-
cal or clockwork in the early explanations of iatrophysicists of
the seventeenth century, to later conceptions of organism as a caloric,
chemodynamic, cellular, and cybernetic machine provided explanations
of biological phenomena from the gross level of the physiology of organs
down to the submicroscopic structures and processes in the cell.
organismic order as a product of random events embraced an
enormous number of facts under the title of "synthetic theory of evolution"
including molecular genetics and biology.
the singular success achieved in the explanation of
ever more and finer life processes, basic questions remained unanswered.
Descartes' "animal machine" was a fair principle to the
admirable order of processes found in the living organism. But then, accord-
ing to Descartes, the "machine" had God its creator. The evolution of
machines by events at random rather appears to be self-contradictory.
Wristwatches or nylon stockings are not as a rule found in nature as products
of chance processes, and certainly the "machines" of en-
zymatic organization in even the simplest cell or nucleoprotein molecules
more complex a watch or the simple polymers
form synthetic fibers. of the fittest" (or "differential reproduction"
in modern terminology) seems lo lead to a circuitous argument.
maintaining systems must exist before they can enter into competition,
which leaves systems with higher selective value or differential reproduction
predominant. That self-maintenance, however, is the explicandum; it is not
provided by the ordinary laws of physics. Rather, the second law of thermo-
dynamics prescribes that ordered systems in which irreversible processes
take place tend toward most probable states and, hence, toward destruction
of existing order and ultimate decay
Academy of Management Journal December
Thus neovitalistic currents, represented by Driesch, and
others, reappeared around the turn of the present century, advancing quite
legitimate arguments which were based essentially on the limits of possible
regulations in a "machine," of evolution by random events, and on the
goal-directedness of action. They were able, however, to refer only to the
old Aristotelian "entelechy" under new names and descriptions, that is, a
supernatural, organizing or "factor."
Thus the "fight on the concept of organism in the first decades the
twentieth century," as Woodger nicely put indicated increasing
doubts regarding the of classical science, that is, the
lion of complex phenomena in terms of isolable elements. This was ex-
pressed in the question of "organization" found in every living system; in
the question whether "random mutations natural selection provide all
the answers the e olutionn and thus of the organization
of living and in question of goal-directedness, which may be
denied in some way or other still raises its ugly head.
These problems were in limited to biology. Psychology, in
gestalt theory, similarly and even earlier posed the question that psycho-
logical wholes perceived are not resolvable into elementary
units such as punctual sensations and excitations in the retina. At the
time came physicalistic theories,
modeled according to the paradigm or the like, were unsatis-
factory. Even the atom appeared as a minute "organism" to
GENERAL SYSTEMS
In late 1920's von wrote:
Since the fundamental character of the living thing is organization, the
investigation of ihe single parts and processes cannot provide a complete
explanation of the vital phenomena. This investigation gives us no information
about coordination of parts and processes. Thus the chief task of biology
be to discover the laws of biological systems (at all levels of
We beiieve that the attempts to find a foundation for theoretical biology point at
a fundamental change in the world picture, This view, considered as a method
of investigation, we shall call "organismic biology" and, as an attempt at an
explanation, "the system theory of the organism" pp. 64 ff., 190, 46, con-
densed].
v
Recognized "as something in biological literature" the organ-
ismic program became widely accepted. This was the of
became known as general systems theory. If the term "organism" in the
above statements is replaced by "organized entities," such as
groups, personality, or technological devices, this is the program of systems
theory.
Aristotelian dictum the whole being more than its parts, which
was neglected by the mechanistic conception, on the one hand, and which
led to a vitalistic demonology, on the other, has a simple and even trivial
1972 The History and Status of General Systems Theory 411
answer-trivial, that is, in principle, but posing innumerable problems in
its elaboration:
The properties and modes of action of higher levels ere not explicable by the
summation of the properties and modes of action of their components taken in
isolation. If, however, we know the ensemble of the components and the relations
existing between them, then the higher levels are derivable from the components
p.
Many (including recent) discussions of the Aristotelian paradox and of
reductionism have added nothing to these in order to under-
stand an organized whole must know both the parts and the relations
between them.
This, however, defines the trouble. For "normal" science in
Kuhn's sense, that is, science as conventionally practiced, was little adapted
to deal with "relations" in systems. As said in a well-known
statement, classical science was concerned with one-way causality or rela-
tions between two variables, such as the attraction the sun and a plane:,
but even the three-body problem of mechanics (and
problems in atomic physics) permits closed solution by analyticai
methods of classical mechanics. there were descriptions sf "unorga-
nized complexity" in terms of statistics whose paradigm is the second
of thermodynamics. However, increasing with the progress of observation
and experiment, there loomed the problem "organized complexity," that
is, of between many but infinitely many components.
Here is the reason why, even though the problems of "system" were
ancient and had been known for many centuries, they remained "philo-
sophical" and did not become a "science." This was so because mathe-
matical techniques lacking and the problems required a new epis-
temology; the whole force of "classical" science and its success over the
centuries militated against any change in the fundamental paradigm of
one-way causality and resolution into elementary units.
The quest for a new "gestalt mathematics" was repeatedly raised a
considerable time ago, in which not the notion of quantity but rather that
of relations, that is, of and order, would be fundamental p. f.].
However, this demand became realizable only with new developments.
The notion of general systems theory was first formulated by
Bertalanffy, orally in 1930's and in various publications after World War
I
There exist models, principles and laws that apply to generalized systems or
subclasses irrespective of their particular kind, the nature of the component
elements, and the relations or "forces" between them. We postulate a new dis-
cipline called General System Theory. General System Theory is a
mathematical field wnose task is the formulation and derivation of those general
principles that are applicable to in general. In this way, exact formu-
lations of terms such as whoieness and sum, differentiation, progressive mechani-
zation, centralization, hierarchial order, finality and etc., become
possible, terms which occur in all sciences dealing with "systems" and imply
their logical homology (von Bertalanffy, 1947, 1955; reprinted in pp. 32,
412 Academy of Management Journal December
The proposal of general systems theory had precursors as well as
independent simultaneous promoters. Mohler came near to generalizing
gestalt theory into generai systems theory Although Lstka did
not use the term "general system theory," his discussion of systems of
simultaneous differential equations remained basic for subsequent
"dynamical" system theory. equations originally developed
for the competition of species, are applicable to generalized kinetics and
dynamics. in his early work independently used the same system
equations as von employed, although deriving different con-
sequences.
Von Bertalanffy outlined "dynamical" system theory (see the section
on Systems Science), and gave mathematical descriptions of system
(such as wholeness, sum, growth, competition, allometry, mechani-
zation, centralization, finality, and equifinality), derived from the system
description by simultaneous differential equations. Being a practicing
biologist, he was particularly interested in developing the theory of "open
systems," that is, systems exchanging environment as every
"living" system does. Such theory did not then exist in physical chemistry.
The theory of open systems stands in manifold relationships with chemical
kinetics in biological, theoretical, and technological aspects, and with
the thermodynamics of irreversible processes, and provides explanations
for many special problems in biochemistry, physiology, general biology,
and related areas. It is correct to say that, apart from control theory and
the of models, the theory of and
open systems [8, is the part of general systems theory most widely
applied in physical chemistry, biophysics, of biological processes,
physiology, pharmacodynamics, and so forth The forecast also proved
to be correct that the areas of physiology, that is, excita-
tion, and (more specifically, the theory of cell
permeability, growth, sensory excitation, electrical center
function, etc.), would "fuse into an integrated theoretical field under the
guidance of the concept of open system" 49 also 15, p.
137
The intuitive choice of rhe open system as a model
was a correct only the physical viewpoint is the "open sys-
tem" the more general case systems can always be obtained
from open ones by equating transport variables zero); it also is the
general case mathematically because system of simultaneous differen-
tial equations (equations used for description in dynamical system
theory is the general from the description of closed systems
derives by the introduction of additional constraints conservation of
mass in a ciosed chemical system) (cf. p. 80 f.).
At first the project was considered to be fantastic. A well-known ecolo-
gist, for example, was "hushed into awed siience" by the preposterous
1972 The History and Stafus of General Systems Theory 413
claim that general system theory constituted a new realm of science
not foreseeing that it would become a legitimate field and the subject of
university within some 15 years.
Many objections were raised against feasibility and legitimacy
It was not understood then that the exploration of properties, models, and
laws of "systems" is not a hunt for superficial analogies, but rather poses
basic and difficult problems which are partly still unsolved p. 200 f.].
According to the program, "system laws" manifest themselves as
analogies or "logical homologies" of laws that are formally identical but
pertain to quite different phenomena or even appear in different disciplines.
This was shown by von in examples which were chosen as
intentionally simple illustrations, but the same principle applies to more
sophisticated cases, such as the following:
is a striking fact that biological systems as diverse as the central nervous
system, and the biochemical regulatory network in cells should be strictly ana-
logous. . . . It is all the more remarkable when it is realized that this particular
analogy between different systems at different levels of biological organization
is but one member of a large class of such analogies
It appeared that a number of researchers, working independently and
in different had arrived at similar conclusions. For example,
wrote to the present author:
I seem to have come to much the same conclusions as you have reached, though
approaching it from the direction of economics and the social sciences rather
than from biology-that there is a body of what I have been calling "general
empirical theory," or "general system theory" in your excellent terminology,
which is of wide applicability in many different disciplines p. 14; cf.
This spreading interest led to the foundation of the Society for General
Systems Research (initially named the Society for the Advancement of
General System Theory), an affiliate of the American Association for the
Advancement of Science. The formation of numerous local groups, the task
group on "General Systems Theory and Psychiatry" in the American Psy-
chiatric Association, and many similar working groups, both in the United
States and in Europe, followed, as well as various meetings and publica-
tions. The program of the Society formulated in 1954 may be quoted
because it remains valid as a research program in general systems theory:
Major functions are to: (1) investigate the isomorphy of concepts, laws, and
models in various fields, and to help in useful transfers from one field to another;
(2) encourage the development of adequate theoretical models in the fields which
lack them; (3) minimize the duplication of theoretical effort in different fieids;
(4) promote the unity of science through improving communication among
specialists.
In the meantime a different development had taken place. Starting
from the development of self-directing missiles, automation and computer
technology, and inspired by Wiener's work, the cybernetic movement be-
came ever more Although the starting point (technology versus
basic science, especially biology) and the basic model (feedback circuit
versus dynamic system of interactions) were different, there was a
414 Academy of Management Journal December
munality of interest in problems of organization and teleological behavior.
Cybernetics too challenged the "mechanistic" conception that the universe
was based on the "operation of anonymous particles at random" and
emphasized "the search for new approaches, for new and more compre-
hensive concepts, and for methods capable of dealing with the large wholes
of organisms and personalities" Although it is incorrect to describe
modern systems theory as "springing out of the last war effort" fact,
it had roots quite different from military hardware and related technological
developments-cybernetics and related approaches were independent
developments which showed many parallelisms with general system theory.
TRENDS IN GENERAL SYSTEMS THEORY
This brief historical survey cannot attempt to review the many recent
developments in general systems theory and the systems approach. For a
critical discussion of the various approaches see pp. 97 ff.] and
Book
With the increasing expansion of systems thinking and studies, the
definition of general systems theory came under renewed scrutiny. Some
indication as to its meaning and scope may therefore be pertinent. The
term "general system theory" was introduced by the present author,
berately, in a catholic sense. One may, of course, limit it to its "technical"
meaning in the sense of mathematical theory (as is frequently done), but
this appears unadvisable because there are many "system" problems ask-
ing for "theory" which is not presently available in mathematical terms.
So the name "general systems theory" may be used broadly, in a way similar
to our speaking of the "theory of evolution," which comprises about every-
thing ranging from fossil digging and anatomy to the mathematical theory
of selection; or "behavior theory," which extends from bird watching to
sophisticated neurophysiological theories. It is the introduction of a new
paradigm that matters.
Systems Science: Mathematical Systems Theory
Broadly speaking, three main aspects can be indicated which are not
separable in content but are distinguishable in intention. The first may be
circumscribed as systems science, that is, scientific exploration and theory
of "systems" in the various sciences physics, biology, psychology,
social sciences), and general systems theory as the doctrine of principles
applying to all (or defined subclasses of) systems.
Entities of an essentially new sort are entering the sphere of scientific
thought. Classical science in its various disciplines, such as chemistry,
biology, psychology, or the social sciences, tried to isolate the elements of
the observed universes--chemical compounds and enzymes, cells,
1972 The History and Status of General Systems Theory
mentary sensations, freely competing individuals, or whatever else may be
the case-in the expectation that by putting them together again, con-
ceptually or experimentally, the whole or system-cell, mind,
result would be intelligible. We have learned, however, that for
an understanding not only the elements their interrelations as well are
required-say, the interplay of enzymes in a cell, interactions sf
conscious and unconscious processes in the personality, structure and
dynamics of social systems, and so forth. Such problems appear even in
physics, for example, in the interaction of many generalized and
"fluxes" (irreversible thermodynamics; cf. relations),
or in the development of nuclear physics, which much experi-
mental work, as well as the development of additional powerful methods
the handling systems with many, but not infinitely many, particles"
This requires, first, the exploration many systems in our observed
universe in their own right and specificities. Second, it turns out that there
are general aspects, correspondences, isomorphisms common "sys-
tems." This is the domain of general systems fheory. srrch paral-
lelisms or isomorphisms appear (sometimes surprisingly) in otherwise
totaily different "systems."
General systems theory, then, consists of the scientific exploration of
"wholes" and "wholeness" which, not so long ago, were considered to be
notions transcending the boundaries of science. con-
cepts, methods, and mathematical fields have developed to deal with them.
the same time, the interdisciplinary nature of concepts, models, and
principles applying to "systems" provides a possible approach toward the
unification of science.
The goal obviously is to develop general systems theory in
terms (a "logico-mathematical field," as this author wrote in the
early statement cited in the section on Foundations of General System
Theory) because mathematics is the exact language permitting rigorous
deductions and confirmation (or refusal) of theory. Mathematical systems
theory has become an extensive and rapidly growing field. "System" being
a new "paradigm" (in the sense of Thomas Kuhn), contrasting to the pre-
dominant, elementalistic approach and conceptions, it is not surprising
that a variety of approaches have developed, differing in emphasis,
of interest, mathematical techniques, and other respects. These elucidate
different aspects, properties and principles of what is comprised under the
term "system," and thus serve different purposes of theoretical or practical
nature. The fact that "system theories" by various authors look rather dif-
ferent is, therefore, not an embarrassment or the result of confusion, but
rather a healthy development in a new and growing field, and indicates
presumably necessary and complementary aspects of the problem. The
existence of different descriptions is nothing extraordinary and is often
encountered In mathematics and science, from the geometrical or analytical
Academy of Management Journal December
description of a curve to the equivalence of classical thermodynamics and
statistical mechanics to that of wave mechanics and particle physics. Dif-
ferent and partly opposing approaches should, however, tend toward further
integration, in the sense that one is a special case within another, or that
they can be shown to be equivalent or complementary. Such developments
are, in fact, taking place.
System-theoretical approaches include general system theory (in the
narrower sense), cybernetics, theory of automata, control theory, informa-
tion theory, set, graph and network theory, relational mathematics, game
and decision theory, computerization and and so forth. The
somewhat loose term "approaches" is used deliberately because the list
contains rather different things, for example, models (such as those of
system, feedback, logical automaton), mathematical techniques
theory of differential equations, computer methods, set, graph theory), and
newly formed concepts or parameters (information, rational game, decision,
These approaches concur, however, in that, in one way or the other,
they relate to "system problems," that is, problems of interrelations within
a superordinate "whole." Of course, these are not isolated but frequently
overlap, and the same problem can be treated mathematically in different
ways. Certain typical ways of describing "systems" can be indicated; their
elaboration is due, on the one hand, to theoretical problems of "systems"
as such and in relation to other disciplines, and, on the other hand, to
problems of the technology of control and communication.
No mathematical development or comprehensive review can be given
here. The following remarks, however, may convey some intuitive under-
standing of the various approaches and the way in which they relate to
each other.
It is generally agreed that "system" is a model of general nature, that
is, a conceptual analog of certain rather universal traits of observed entities.
The use of or analog constructs is the general procedure of science
(and even of everyday cognition), as it is also the principle of analog simu-
lation by computer. The difference from conventional disciplines is not
essential but lies rather in the degree of generality (or abstraction): "system"
refers to very general characteristics partaken by a large class of entities
conventionally treated in different disciplines. Hence the interdisciplinary
nature of general systems theory; at the same time, its statements pertain
to formal or structural commonalities abstracting from the "nature of ele-
ments and forces in the system" with which the special sciences (and
explanations in these) are concerned. In other words, system-theoretical
arguments pertain to, and have predictive value, inasmuch as such general
structures are concerned. Such "explanation in principle" may have con-
siderable predictive value; for specific explanation, introduction of the
special system conditions is naturally required.
1972 The History and Status of General Systems Theory 417
A system may be defined as a set of elements standing in interrelation
among themselves and with the environment. This can be expressed mathe-
matically in different ways. Several typical ways of system description can
be indicated.
One approach or group of investigations may, somewhat loosely, be
circumscribed as axiomatic, inasmuch as the focus of interest is a rigorous
definition of system and the derivation, by modern methods of mathematics
and logic, of its implications. Among other examples are the system descrip-
tions by Mesarovic Maccia and Maccia Beier and
(set theory), [2] (state-determined systems), and
of all couplings between the elements and the elements and environment;
of all states and all transitions between states).
system theory is concerned with the changes of systems in
time. There are two principal ways of description: internal and external
J
Internal description or "classical ' system theory (foundations in
11; and 15, pp. 54 ff.]; comprehensive presentation in an excellent
introduction into system theory and the theory of open systems,
following the line of the present author, in defines a system by a set of n
measures, called state variables. Analytically, their change in time is typically
expressed by a set of n simultaneous, first-order differential equations:
These are called dynamicai equations or equations of motion. The set
of differential equations permits a formal expression of system properties,
such as wholeness and sum, stability, mechanization, growth, competition,
final and behavior and others 11, The behavior of the sys-
tem is described by the theory of differential equations (ordinary, first-order,
if the definition of the system by Eq. 1.1 is accepted), which is a well-known
and highly developed field of mathematics. However, as was mentioned
previously, system considerations pose quite definite problems. For example,
the theory of stability has developed only recently in conjunction with
problems of control (and system): the Liapunov functions date from
1892 (in Russian; 1907 in French), but their significance was recognized only
recently, especially through the work of mathematicians of the U.S.S.R.
Geometrically, the change of the system is expressed by the trajectories
that the state variables traverse in the state space, that is, the n-dimensional
space of possible location of these variables. Three types of behavior may
be distinguished and defined as follows:
1. A trajectory is called asymptotically stable if all trajectories
close it at approach it asymptotically when t
2. A trajectory is called neutrally stable if all trajectories sufficiently
418 Academy of Management Journal December
close to it at t=O remain close to it for all later time but do not necessarily
approach it asymptotically.
3. A trajectory is called unstable if the trajectories close to it at t=O
do not remain close to it as t
These correspond to solutions approaching a time-independent state
(equilibrium, steady state), periodic solutions, and divergent solutions,
respectively.
A time-independent state,
can be considered as a trajectory degenerated into a single point. Then,
readily visualizable in two-dimensional projection, the trajectories may
converge toward a stable node represented by the equilibrium point, may
approach it as a stable focus in damped oscillations, or may cycle around
it in undamped oscillations (stable solutions). Or else, they may diverge
from an unstable node, wander away from an unstable focus in oscillations,
or from a saddle point (unstable solutions).
A central notion of dynamical theory is that of stability, that is, the
response of a system to perturbation. The concept of stability originates
in mechanics (a rigid body is in stable equilibrium if it returns to its original
position after sufficently small displacement; a motion is stable if insensi-
tive to small perturbations), and is generalized to the "motions" of state
variables of a system. This question is related to that of the existence of
equilibrium states. Stability can be analyzed, therefore, by explicit solution
of the differential equations describing the system (so-called indirect
method, based essentially on discussion of the eigenwerte of Eq. 1 In
the case of nonlinear systems, these equations have to be linearized by
development into Taylor series and retention of the first term. Linearization,
however, pertains only to stability in the vicinity of equilibrium. But stability
arguments without actual solution of the differential equations (direct
method) and for nonlinear systems are possible by introduction of so-called
Liapunov functions; these are essentially generalized energy functions, the
sign of which indicates whether or not an equilibrium is asymptotically
stable
Here the relation of dynamical system theory to control theory becomes
apparent; control means essentially that a system which is not asymptotic-
ally stable is made so by incorporating a controller, counteracting the
motion of the system away from the stable state. For this reason the theory
of stability in internal description or dynamical system theory converges
with the theory of (linear) control or feedback systems in external descrip-
tion (see below; cf.
1972 The History and Status of General Systems Theory 419
Description by ordinary differential equations (Eq. 1.1) abstracts from
variations of the state variables in space which would be expressed by
partial differential equations. Such field equations are, however, more diffi-
cult to handle. Ways of overcoming this difficulty are to assume complete
"stirring," so that distribution is homogeneous within the volume considered;
or to assume the existence of compartments to which homogeneous dis-
tribution applies, and which are connected by suitable interactions (com-
partment theory)
In external description, the system is considered as a "black box";
its relations to the environment and other systems are presented graphically
in block and flow diagrams. The system description is given in terms of
inputs and outputs (Klemmenverhalten in German terminology); its general
form are transfer functions relating input and output. Typically, these are
assumed to be linear and are represented by discrete sets of values (cf.
yes-no decisions in information theory, Turing machine). This is the language
of control technology; external description, typically, is given in terms of
communication (exchange of information between system and environment
and within the system) and control of the system's function with respect to
environment (feedback), to use Wiener's definition of cybernetics.
As mentioned, internal and external descriptions largely coincide with
descriptions by continuous or discrete functions. These are two "languages"
adapted to their respective purposes. Empirically, there is an obvious con-
trast between regulations due to the free interplay of forces within a
system, and regulations due to constraints imposed by structural
feedback mechanisms for example, the "dynamic" regulations in a
chemical system or in the network of reactions in a cell on the one hand,
and control by mechanisms such as a thermostat or homeostatic nervous
circuit on the other. Formally, however, the two "languages" are related
and in certain cases demonstrably translatable. For example, an input-output
function can (under certain conditions) be developed as a linear nth-order
differential equation, and the terms of the latter can be considered as
(formal) "state variables"; while their physical meaning remains indefinite,
formal "translation" from one language into the other is possible.
In certain cases-for example, the two-factor theory of nerve excita-
tion terms of "excitatory and inhibitory factors" or "substances") and
network theory nets of "neurons")-description in dynamical
system theory by continuous functions and description in automata theory
by digital analogs can be shown to be equivalent Similarly
prey systems, usually described dynamically by equations, can also
be expressed in terms of cybernetic feedback circuits These are
variable systems. Whether a similar "translation" can be effectuated in
many-variables systems remains (in the present writer's opinion) to be seen.
420 Academy of Management Journal December
Internal description is essentially "structural," that is, it tries to describe
the systems' behavior in terms of state variables and their interdependence.
External description is "functional"; the system's behavior is described in
terms of its interaction with the environment.
As this sketchy survey shows, considerabie progress has been made
in mathematical systems theory since the program was enunciated and
inaugurated some 25 years ago. A variety of approaches, which, however,
are connected with each other, have been developed.
Today mathematical system theory is a rapidly growing field, but it is
natural that basic problems, such as those of hierarchical order are
approached only slowly and presumably will need novel ideas and theories.
"Verbal" descriptions and models 31 ; 42; are not expendable.
Problems must be intuitively "seen" and recognized before they can be
formalized mathematically. Otherwise, mathematical formalism may impede
rather than expedite the exploration of very "real" problems.
A strong system-theoretical movement has developed in psychiatry,
largely through the efforts of Gray The same is true of the behavioral
sciences and also of certain areas in which such a development was
quite unexpected, at least by the present writer-for example, theoretical
geography Sociology was stated as being essentially science of
social systems" not foreseen was, for instance, the close parallelism
of general system theory with French structuralism Piaget,
Strauss; cf. and the influence exerted on American functionalism in
sociology see especially pp. 2, 96, 141).
Systems Technology
The second realm of general systems theory is systems technology,
that is, the problems arising in modern technology and society, including
both "hardware" (control technology, automation, computerization, etc.)
and "software" (application of system concepts and theory in social, eco-
logical, economical, etc., problems). We can only allude to the vast realm
of techniques, models, mathematical approaches, and so forth, summarized
as systems engineering or under similar denominations, in order place
it into the perspective of the present study.
Modern technology and society have become so complex that the
traditional branches of technology are no longer sufficient; approaches
of a holistic or systems, and generalist and interdisciplinary, nature became
necessary. This is true in many ways. Modern engineering includes fields
such as circuit theory, cybernetics as the study of "communication and
control" (Wiener and computer techniques for handling "systems"
of a complexity unamenable to classical methods of mathematics. Systems
of many levels ask for scientific control: ecosystems, the disturbance of
which results in pressing problems like pollution; formal organizations like
1972 The History and Status of General Systems Theory 421
bureaucracies, educational institutions, or armies; socioeconomic systems,
with their grave problems of international relations, politics, and deterrence.
of the questions of how far scientific understanding (contrasted
to the admission of irrationality of cultural and historical events) is possible,
and to what extent scientific control is feasible or even desirable, there can
be no dispute that these are essentially "system" problems, that is, prob-
lems involving interrelations of a great number of "variables." The same
applies to narrower objectives in industry, commerce, and armament.
The technological demands have led to novel conceptions and disci-
plines, some displaying great originality and introducing new basic notions
such as control and information theory, game, decision theory, the theory
of circuits, of queuing and others. Again it transpired concepts and
models (such as feedback, information, control, stability, circuits) which
originated in certain specified fields of technology have a much broader
significance, are of an interdisciplinary nature, and are independent of
their special realizations, as exemplified by isomorphic feedback models
in mechanical, hydrodynamic, electrical, biological and other systems. Simi-
larly, developments originating in pure and in applied science
as in dynamical system theory and control theory. Again, there is a spectrum
ranging from highly sophisticated mathematical theory to computer simula-
tion to more or less informal discussion of system problems.
,Philosophy
Third, there is the realm of systems philosophy that is, the re-
orientation of thought and world view following the introduction of "system"
as a new scientific paradigm (in contrast to the analytic, mechanistic,
causal paradigm of classical science). Like very scientific theory of broader
scope, general systems theory has its "metascientific" or philosophical
aspects. The concept of "system" constitutes a new "paradigm," in Thomas
Kuhn's phrase, or a new "philosophy of nature," in the present writer's
words, contrasting the "blind laws of nature" of the mechanistic world view
and the world process as a Shakespearean tale told by an idiot, with an
organismic outlook of the "world as a great organization."
First, we must find out the "nature of the beast": what is meant by
"system," and how systems are realized at the various levels of the world
of observation. This is systems ontology.
What is to be defined and described as system is not a question with
an obvious or trivial answer. It will be readily agreed that a galaxy, a dog,
a cell, and an atom are "systems." But in what sense and what respects
can we speak of an animal or a human society, personality, language,
mathematics, and so forth as "systems"?
may first distinguish real systems, is, entities perceived in or
inferred from observation and existing independently of an observer. On
422 Academy of Management Journal December
the other hand, there are conceptual systems, such as logic or mathematics,
which essentially are symbolic constructs (but also including, music);
with abstracted systems (science) as a subclass, that is, conceptual
systems corresponding with reality. However, the distinction is by no means
as sharp as it would appear.
Apart from philosophical interpretation (which would take us into the
question of metaphysical realism, idealism, phenomenalism, etc.) we would
consider as "objects" (which partly are "real systems") entities given by
perception because they are discrete in space and time. We do not doubt
that a pebble, a table, an automobile, an animal, or a star (and in a somewhat
different sense an atom, a molecule, and a planetary system) are "real"
and existent independently of observation. Perception, however, is not a
reliable guide. Following it, we "see" the sun revolving around the earth,
and certainly do not see that a solid piece of matter like a stone "really"
is mostly empty space with minute centers of energy dispersed in astro-
nomical distances. The spatial boundaries of even what appears to be an
obvious object or "thing" actually are indistinct. From a crystal consisting
of molecules, valences stick out, as it were, into the surrounding space;
the spatial boundaries of a cell or an organism are equally vague because
it maintains itself in a flow of molecules entering and leaving, and it is
difficult to tell just what belongs to the "living system" and what does not.
Ultimately all boundaries are dynamic rather than spatial.
Hence an object (and in particular a system) is definable only by its
cohesion in a broad sense, that is, the interactions of the component ele-
ments. this sense an ecosystem or social system is just as "real" as an
individual plant, animal, or human being, and indeed problems like pollution
as a disturbance of the ecosystem, or social problems strikingly demon-
strate their "reality." Interactions (or, more generally, interrelations),
however, are never directly seen or perceived; they are conceptual con-
structs. The same is true even of the objects of our everyday world, which by
no means are simply "given" as sense data or simple perceptions but also
are constructs based on innate or learned categories, the concordance of
different senses, previous experience, learning processes, naming
symbolic processes), etc. all of which largely determine what we actually
"see" or perceive [cf. Thus the distinction between "real" objects and
systems as given in observation and "conceptual" constructs and systems
cannot be drawn in any common-sense way.
These are profound problems which can only be indicated in this
context. The question for general systems theory is what statements can
be made regarding systems, informational systems, conceptual
systems, and other types-questions which are far from being satisfactorily
answered at the present time.
1972 The History and Status of General Systems Theory 423
This leads to systems epistemology. As is apparent from the preceding
this is profoundly different from the epistemology of logical positivism or
empiricism, even though it shares the same scientific attitude. The epis-
temology (and metaphysics) of logical positivism was determined by the
ideas of physicalism, atomism, and the "camera theory" of knowledge.
These, in view of present-day knowledge, are obsolete. As against physi-
calism and reductionism, the problems and modes of thought occurring
in the biological, behavioral and social sciences require equal considera-
tion, and simple "reduction" to the elementary particles and conventional
laws of physics does not appear feasible. Compared to the analytical pro-
cedure of classical science, with resolution into component elements and
one-way or linear causality as the basic category, the investigation of
organized wholes of many variables requires new categories of interaction,
transaction, organization, teleology, and so forth, with many problems
arising for epistemology, mathematical models and techniques. Furthermore,
perception is not a reflection of "real things" (whatever their metaphysical
status), and knowledge not a simple approximation to "truth" or "reality."
It is an interaction between knower and known, and thus dependent on a
multiplicity of factors of a biological, psychological, cultural, and linguistic
nature. Physics itself teaches that there are no ultimate entities like cor-
puscles or waves existing independently of the observer. This leads to a
"perspective" philosophy in which physics, although its achievements in
its own and related fields are fully acknowledged, is not a monopolistic way
of knowledge. As opposed to reductionism and theories declaring that
reality is "nothing but" (a heap of physical particles, genes, reflexes, drives,
or whatever the case may be), we see sicence as one of the "perspectives"
that man, with his biological, cultural, and linguistic endowment and bond-
age, has created to deal with the universe into which he is "thrown," or
rather to which he is adapted owning to evolution and history.
The third part of systems philosophy is concerned with the relations
of man and his world, or what is termed values in philosophical parlance.
If reality is a hierarchy of organized wholes, the image of man will be dif-
ferent from what it is in a world of physical particles governed by chance
events as the ultimate and only "true" reality. Rather, the world of symbols,
values, social entities and cultures is something very "real"; and its
dedness in a cosmic order of hierarchies tends to bridge the gulf between
C. P. Snow's "two cultures" of science and the humanities, technology and
history, natural and social sciences, or in whatever way the antithesis is
formulated.
This humanistic concern of general systems theory, as this writer
understands it, marks a difference to mechanistically oriented system
theorists speaking solely in terms of mathematics, feedback, and technology
and so giving rise to the fear that systems theory is indeed the ultimate step
toward the mechanization and devaluation of man and toward technocratic
424 Academy of Management Journal December
society. While understanding and emphasizing the role of mathematics and
of pure and applied science, this writer does not see that the humanistic
aspects can be evaded unless general systems theory is limited to a re-
stricted and fractional vision.
Thus there is indeed a great and perhaps puzzling multiplicity of
approaches and trends in general systems theory. This is understandably
to him who wants a neat formalism, to the textbook writer
and the dogmatist. It is, however, quite natural in the history of ideas and
of science, and particularly in the beginning of a new development. Different
models and theories may be apt render different aspects and so are com-
plementary. the other hand, future developments will undoubtedly lead
to further unification.
General systems theory is, as emphasized, a model of certain general
aspects of reality. But i t is also a way of seeing things which were previously
overlooked or bypassed, and in this sense is a methodological maxim. And
like every scientific theory of broader compass, it is connected with, and
tries to give its answer to perennial problems of philosophy.
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