GENERAL SYSTEMS MODELS 1)2)3)
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J.W. SUTHERLAND adscribes the following necessary characteristics to general systems models:
" – The models should have premises which are fully explicated such that we, as completely as pOSSible, eliminate any tacit predicates (axiological, ontological, or epistemological).
" – The models should, to the extent feasible or economical, treat all determinants of a phenomenon as endogenous.
" – The logical or substantive connections among the determinants (i.e. state-variables) in our models should be both eidetic (Note: from the Greek "eidos": form, shape) and nonelliptical.
" – Our models should, to the extent that the properties of the phenomenon at hand permit, be nomothetic (Note: i.e., usable, from the Greek "nomos": usage, law) in character, but models should always be apodictical' (Note: i.e. clearly proven) (1973, p.91).
According to SUTHERLAND, these prescriptions are designed to avoid unwarranted and assumptive reductionism (of the kind based on sweeping and invalid analogies) and expediency, or, we should add, downright fudging.
We must however assume that the business of replacing enigmatic observed arrays of facts by comprehensive but very difficult to prove abstractions, is quite risky.
As observed by G. WEINBERG: "The most dangerous pitfall in developing category systems is imagining that one system of paradigms is more "real" than another" (1975, p.34).
General systems models are by nature models of second degree order, i.e. models of properties common to a number of more specific models. For example, regulation in general is a global model including the basics of many specific regulations in different disciplines.
As such, it can be used:
- as a transdisciplinarian metalanguage among specialists confronted by complex situations.
- as a tool in any special trade to gain useful insights on overlooked aspects of phenomena.
However, as acutely observed by K. BOULDING, one should be very careful as nowadays nobody can: "…hope to know more than a very small fraction of what is known by somebody. The general systems man, therefore, is constantly taking leaps in the dark, constantly jumping to conclusions on insufficient evidence, constantly, in fact, making a fool of himself" (1964, p.30).
… A kind of foolishness we however are in dire need of, if we are not to loose our grasp on complex situations!
Categories
- 1) General information
- 2) Methodology or model
- 3) Epistemology, ontology and semantics
- 4) Human sciences
- 5) Discipline oriented
Publisher
Bertalanffy Center for the Study of Systems Science(2020).
To cite this page, please use the following information:
Bertalanffy Center for the Study of Systems Science (2020). Title of the entry. In Charles François (Ed.), International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics (2). Retrieved from www.systemspedia.org/[full/url]
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