C. West Churchman Quotes

1913–2004 United States

Charles West Churchman (29 August 1913 – 21 March 2004) was an American philosopher and systems scientist, known for his pioneering work in operations research, system analysis and ethics.

United States
Academics
Business theorists
Mathematicians
Philosophers

Also known as: Charles West Churchman, Churchman, C. West

Random C. West Churchman quote

48 quotes

The systems approach goes on to discovering that every world-view is terribly restricted.

C. West Churchman (1970)

A systems approach begins when first you see the world through the eyes of another.

The Systems Approach (1968)

If the story of my early years with Russ sound like they were years of battle, then the sound is correct.

The problem of systems improvement is the problem of the 'ethics of the whole system'.

The Systems Approach (1968)

Enemies are hostile, out to stop you, to eliminate you and your ideas; they are also to be loved, even as yourself.

The Systems Approach and Its Enemies (1979)

What seems to emerge is not a moral reprimand of the management scientist, but rather a moral problem of the profession, a wicked moral problem.

Guest editorial: Wicked problems (1967)

The comprehensiveness of OR’s aim is an example of a ‘systems’ approach, since ‘system’ implies an interconnected complex of functionally related components.

Introduction to Operations Research (1957)

Holism traditionally says that a collection of beings may have a collective property that cannot be inferred from the properties of its members.

The Systems Approach and Its Enemies (1979)

This text is oriented toward human organizations since this has been the emphasis in the practice of O.R. in business and industry.

Introduction to Operations Research (1957)

When one is considering systems it's always wise to raise questions about the most obvious and simple assumptions.

The Systems Approach (1968)

Design, properly viewed, is an enormous liberation of the intellectual spirit, for it challenges this spirit to an unbounded speculation about possibilities.

The Design of Inquiring Systems (1971)

To know that we are measuring real change we need to have a strong theoretical base.

C. West Churchman (1970)

If the chance of error alone were the sole basis for evaluating methods of inference, we would never reach a decision, but would merely keep increasing the sample size indefinitely.

Theory of Experimental Inference (1948)

We are always obliged to think about the larger system. If we fail to do this, then our thinking becomes fallacious.

The Systems Approach (1968)

Inquiry is the creation of knowledge or understanding; it is the reaching out of a human being beyond himself to a perception of what he may be or could be, or what the world could be or ought to be.

The Design of Inquiring Systems (1971)

How can we design improvement in large systems without understanding the whole system, and if we the answer is that we cannot, how is it possible to understand the whole system?

The Systems Approach (1968)

Ethical judgments can be [should be] included in the scope of science

Theory of Experimental Inference (1948)

The complete analysis of the methods of scientific inference shows that the theory of inference in science demands the use of ethical judgments

Theory of Experimental Inference (1948)

There are no experts in the systems approach

The Systems Approach (1968)

The ultimate meaning of the systems approach, therefore, lies in the creation of a theory of deception and in a fuller understanding of the ways in which the human being can be deceived about his world and in an interaction between these different viewpoints.

The Systems Approach (1968)

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: C. West Churchman (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.