26 quotes
Progress is only possible by passing from a state of undifferentiated wholeness to differentiation of parts.
General System Theory (1968)
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)
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)
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)
# 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)
# Game theory, analyzing in a novel mathematical framework, rational competition between two or more antagonists for maximum gain and minimum loss.
General System Theory (1968)
You cannot sum up the behavior of the whole from the isolated parts, and you have to take into account the relations between the various subordinate systems which are super-ordinated to them in order to understand the behavior of the parts.
General System Theory (1968)
The system problem is essentially the problem of the limitation of analytical procedures in science. This used to be expressed by half-metaphysical statements, such as emergent evolution or ‘the whole is more than the sum of its parts,’ but has a clear operational meaning.
General System Theory (1968)
Systems thinking plays a dominant role in a wide range of fields from industrial enterprise and armaments to esoteric topics of pure science. Innumerable publications, conferences, symposia and courses are devoted to it. Professions and jobs have appeared in recent years which, unknown a short while ago, go under names such as systems design, systems analysis, systems engineering and others.
General System Theory (1968)
# Factor analysis, i.e., isolation by way of mathematical analysis, of factors in multivariable phenomena in psychology and other fields
General System Theory (1968)
There are quite a number of novel developments intended to meet the needs of a general theory of systems. We may enumerate them in brief survey
General System Theory (1968)
# Information theory, introducing the concept of information as a quantity measurable by an expression isomorphic to negative entropy in physics, and developing the principles of its transmission.
General System Theory (1968)
Science in the past (and partly in the present), was dominated by one-sided empiricism. Only a collection of data and experiments were considered as being ‘scientific’ in biology (and psychology); forgetting that a mere accumulation of data, although steadily piling up, does not make a science.
General System Theory (1968)
Also the principle of stress, so often invoked in psychology, psychiatry, and psychosomatics, needs some reevaluation. As everything in the world, stress too is an ambivalent thing. Stress is not only a danger to life to be controlled and neutralized by adaptive mechanisms; it also creates higher life.
General System Theory (1968)
The general notion in communication theory is that of information. In many cases, the flow of information corresponds to a flow of energy, e.g. if light waves emitted by some objects reach the eye or a photoelectric cell, elicit some reaction of the organism or some machinery, and thus convey information.
General System Theory (1968)