THINKING ABOUT WHAT "SYSTEMS" ARE...


Written Oct 1998
Posted Jan 2001

systems are heuristics
  • a system is a way of organizing undifferentiated reality that places an emphasis on the conception of parts and relationships, and their functioning together in a manner that creates a sense of definable/understandable whole
  • as Weinberg states, they are "ways of looking"
  • since they are "ways of looking"
    ® they are theoretical abstractions that enable representations of that-which-exists
    ® they themselves, however, only exist as abstractions or heuristics
    ® they will vary depending on the conceptions and perceptions of those who are observing them
  • in a simplified manner, I would define a system as a set of relations
    ® determining the relations is the act of an observer
    ® the question becomes how to link which components together as a system?

definitional confusions:

  • confusion and misunderstanding about what systems are and about their application is often due to there being different "ways of looking" ® different observers and different theoretical abstractions lead to different understandings
  • in particular, there is variation on the degree of emphasis placed on a variety of characteristics - some of these can be viewed on a continuum between 'hard' and soft' systems
    • hard systems: emphasis on components contained within a definable boundary - systems are mechanistic, predictable and controllable
    • soft systems: emphasis on sets of relations - systems are evolutionary, organic, unpredictable
  • more recently, arising from general systems theory, there are new theories emerging - notions of chaos, catastrophe, complexity, self-organization are leading to new conceptions of how systems work

    • key aspects/characteristics of systems:

  • holistic - systems are components, process and the relations among them that work together to form a whole
  • emergent - they cannot be understood by considering only their parts - systems are 'wholes that are greater than the sum of their parts
  • hierarchical - systems are embedded within larger systems which are embedded within larger systems...
  • inputs/outputs - energy, material, information exchange with their environments
  • dynamic - linear vs. non-linear
  • observer - exclusive/inclusive
    •

    systems approach

    • refers to application of systems heuristics/theory to problem/situation/real world as way of gaining understanding - these are relevant for the need to gain understanding from science to planning
    • 'approach' is inclusive of analysis, synthesis/design, and implementation
    • variations in the approaches relate to the various system perspective used, for example hard vs. soft systems approaches
      ® hard approach tends to relate to the 'scientific,' mechanistic, reductionist (even though 'system' is a holistic concept) approach
      ® soft approach tends to relate to the social scientific, organic, more holistic approach

    related considerations:
  • order vs. organization
  • thinking about boundaries...
  • characteristics of autopoietic and sympoietic systems
  • MES Thesis, Chapter 2: Systems

    •  

    As any poet knows, a system is a way of looking at the world. The system is a point of view - natural for a poet, yet terrifying for a scientist!
    Weinberg 1975: 52

     

    A system is an assemblage of objects, principles, or facts, united by some form of regular interaction or interdependence into an organized whole.
    Roe et al. 1992: 27-8

     

    To say that a complex system exists is to say that a set of macroscopic processes has emerged and stabilized in action-space by cycling the materials and energies at hand through persistent patterns and forms...
    Iberall and Soodak 1987: 509