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Another recent development is the theory of formal organizations, that is, structures planfully instituted, such as those of an army, Bureaucracy, business enterprise, etc. This theory is framed in a philosophy which accepts the premise that the only meaningful way to study organization is to study it as a system.

— Ludwig von Bertalanffy General System Theory (1968)

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More quotes by Ludwig von Bertalanffy

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)

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