Systems theory

Systems Theories: Their Origins, Foundations, and Development
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By Alexander Laszlo and Stanley Krippner

Published in:
J.S. Jordan (Ed.), Systems Theories and A Priori Aspects of Perception. Amsterdam: Elsevier Science, 1998. Ch. 3, pp. 47-74.

[Manuscript version: submitted for publication in 1997]

Abstract In it's broadest conception, a “system” may be described as a complex of interacting components together with the relationships among them that permit the identification of a boundary-maintaining entity or process. Since social and psychological phenomena tend to resist quantitative modeling by posing basic difficulties already on the plane of boundary identification, alternative approaches must be relied upon. One such approach draws on the body of knowledge derived from General System Theory and its application in the domain of human activity systems. The line that separates the aspects of a system from those of its environment tends to blur as the unit of observation moves from natural and designed physical systems to human and conceptual social systems. While the former are easier to define and have relatively clear-cut aims or purposes, the latter are more difficult to define; most often they do not have clear-cut and agreed upon aims or purposes, and even when agreed upon, these may change over time. In addition, human activity systems (be they composed of individuals in a nuclear family, musicians in an orchestra, or members of a national or international organization) tend to have multiple and overlapping purposes, of which it is possible to distinguish at least three levels: the purpose of the system, the purpose of its parts, and the purpose of the system of which it is a part, the suprasystem. The method proposed by systems theory is to model complex entities created by the

multiple interaction of components by abstracting from certain details of structure and component, and