General Systems Theory

Developed by biologist Ludwig von Bertalanffy in the 1940's. The theory delineates rules that govern behaviors of a variety of complex system, both living and non-living. These rules can be conceptualized as systems with various interacting components. Laws could theoretically be formulated to describe how any system functioned. Systems were mapped by feedback tests. These tests involved adjusting one aspect of a system and then measuring the effect this had on the other components of the system.

General Systems Theory can be useful in any of the following fields:

• Ecology
• Electronics
• Biology
• Economics
• Business Management
• Warfare
• Oceanography
• Aquaculture
• Robotics
• Cybernetics

People associated with GST include:

• Ludwig von Bertalanffy
• Kenneth E. Boulding
• Jay Forrester
• George Klir
• Claude Shannon

Related nodes:

• Thermostat
• Positive feedback
• Negative feedback
• feedback loop
• Cybernetic theory and homeostasis
• feedback control
• intelligence amplification
• Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid

Sources:
http://www.wspc.com.sg/books/compsci/4307.html
http://www.geocities.com/~n4bz/gst/gst1.htm
http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/CSTHINK.html
Last Updated 09.15.04

von Bertalanffy, Ludwig. General System Theory: Foundations, Development, Applications. New York: George Braziller Inc., 1968. (12th printing, 1995)

From the cover:

"An authoritative introduction to one of the most important theoretical and methodological reorientations in contemporary physical, biological, behavioral and social sciences"

General Systems Theory stands as biologist Ludwig von Bertalanffy's reaction against reductionism and his attempt to revive the unity of science. Von Bertalanffy's work was initially accused of being pseudoscientific by his peers, but after 30 years of exponential advancement in modelling and simulation technology, his ideas don't seem so strange anymore.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction
   
   • Systems Everywhere
   • On the History of Systems Theory
   • Trends in Systems Theory
2. The Meaning of General Systems Theory
   
   • The Quest for a General System Theory
   • Aims of General System Theory
   • Closed and Open Systems: Limitations of Conventional Physics
   • Information and Entropy
   • Causality an Teleology
   • What Is Organization?
   • General Systems Theory and the Unity of Science
   • General Systems Theory in Education: The Production of Scientific Generalists
   • Science and Society
   • The Ultimate Precept: Man as the Individual
3. Some System Concepts in Elementary Mathematical Consideration
   
   • The System Concept
   • Growth
   • Competition
   • Wholeness, Sum, Mechanization, Centralization
   • Finality
   • Types of Finality
   • Isomorphism in Science
   • The Unity of Science
4. Advances in General Systems Theory
   
   • Approaches and Aims in Systems Science
   • Methods in General Systems Research
   • Advances of General System Theory
5. The Organism Considered as Physical System
   
   • The Organism as Open System
   • General Characteristics of Open Chemical Systems
   • Equifinality
   • Biological Applications
6. The Model of Open System
   
   • The Living Machine and Its Limitations
   • Some Characteristics of Open Systems
   • Open Systems in Biology
   • Open Systems and Cybernetics
   • Unsolved Problems
7. Some Aspects of System Theory in Biology
   
   • Open Systems and Steady States
   • Feedback and Homeostasis
   • Allometry and the Surface Rule
   • Theory of Animal Growth
8. The System Concept in the Sciences of Man
   
   • The Organismic Revolution
   • The Image of Man in Contemporary Thought
   • System-Theoretical Re-orientation
   • Systems in the Social Sciences
   • A System-Theoretical Concept of History
   • The Future in System-Theoretical Aspect
9. General System Theory in Psychology and Psychiatry
   
   • The Quandary of Modern Psychology
   • Some Concepts in Psychopathology
10. The Relativity of Categories
    
    • The Whorfian Hypothesis
    • The Biological Relativity of Categories
    • The Cultural Relativity of Categories
    • The Perspectivistic View