42 quotes
Progress is only possible by passing from a state of undifferentiated wholeness to differentiation of parts.
General System Theory (1968)
What in the whole denotes a causal equilibrium process, appears for the part as a teleological event.
Wholeness [Ganzheit], Gestalt, is the primary attribute of life.
Kritische Theorie der Formbildung (1928)
The stream of life is maintained only in continuous flow of matter through all groups of organisms.
Apparently, the isomorphisms of laws rest in our cognition on the one hand, and in reality on the other.
General System Theory (1968)
We completely agree that description by differential equations is not only a clumsy but, in principle, inadequate way to deal with many problems of organization.
General System Theory (1968)
The characteristic of life does not lie in a distinctiveness of single life processes. [Lebensvorgänge], but rather in a certain order among all the processes.
L. von Bertalanffy (1934)
General Systems Theory... possibly the model of the world as a great organization can help to reinforce the sense of reverence for the living which we have almost lost.
Von Bertalanffy (1955)
What we call growth of even a simple organism is a tremendously complex phenomenon from the biochemical, physiological, cytological, and morphological viewpoints.
Von Bertalanffy (1957)
A general proof is difficult because of the lack of general criteria for the existence of steady states, but it can be given for special cases.
General System Theory (1968)
There appears to exist a general systems laws which apply to any system of a certain type, irrespective of the particular properties of the system and of the elements involved.
General System Theory (1968)
While we can conceive of a sum [or aggregate] as being composed gradually, a system as a total of parts with its [multiplicative] interrelations has to be conceived of as being composed instantly.
General System Theory (1968)
The characteristic of the organism is first that it is more than the sum of its parts and second that the single processes are ordered for the maintenance of the whole.
Kritische Theorie der Formbildung (1928)
If someone were to analyze current notions and fashionable catchwords, he would find "systems" high on the list. The concept has pervaded all fields of science and penetrated into popular thinking, jargon and mass media.
General System Theory (1968)
It is an empirical rule that living, evolutionary, psychological, social, etc., systems tend toward increasing differentiation and organization.
to Bertalanffy (1929)
We are confronted with problems of organized complexity... organization runs through all levels of reality and science.
Robots, Men and Minds (1967)
Scientists, operating in the various disciplines, are encapsulated in their private universe, and it is difficult to get word from one cocoon to the other.
# Decision theory, similarly analyzing rational choices, within human organizations, based upon examination of a given situation and its possible outcomes.
General System Theory (1968)
# Topology or relational mathematics, including non-metrical fields such as network and graph theory.
General System Theory (1968)
# Cybernetics, based upon the principle of feedback or circular causal trains providing mechanisms for goal-seeking and self-controlling behavior.
General System Theory (1968)