Gathered here are Ludwig von Bertalanffy's writings on general systems theory, selected and edited to show the evolution of systems theory and to present it applications to problem solving.
An attempt to formulate common laws that apply to virtually every scientific field, this conceptual approach has had a profound impact on such widely diverse disciplines as biology, economics, psychology, and demography.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
STILL the best book on the subject,
By Mark D. Longo - Author of The Shaman (Palo Alto, CA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: General System Theory: Foundations, Development, Applications (Revised Edition) (Paperback)
I've looked high and low for a text summarizing systems theory and I write this review in near shock having just finished this book. I say "shock" because I just can't believe how remarkably undated this book is after nearly 40 years (first edition 1969). I've read books by Checkland, Lazlo, Weinberg and many others but nothing summarizes the systems world view better than this classic. You've gotta love a scientist/philosopher who quotes Aldous Huxley liberally. I'd give it six stars if I could.
61 of 78 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A new way of looking at how things work together,
By
This review is from: General System Theory: Foundations, Development, Applications (Revised Edition) (Paperback)
Perhaps the best way to start this review is with Bertalanffy's own words: "Compared to the analytical procedure of classical science with resolution into component elements and one-way or linear causality as basic category, the investigation of organized wholes of many variables requires new catagories of interaction, transaction, organization, teleology..." "These considerations lead to the postulate of a new scientific discipline which we call general system theory. It's subject matter is formulation of principles that are valid for "systems" in general, whatever the nature of the component elements and the relations or "forces" between them... "General system theory, therefore, is a general science of wholeness"... Wholeness is not new, the Chinese and Greeks had their own versions, but what Bertalanffy did is make it an authentic science.
46 of 59 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A book for the development of system ideas.,
By
This review is from: General system theory: Foundations, development, applications (Penguin university books) (Paperback)
This book is quite old now and shows some of its age. At the time the idea of system theory was new and invigorating although it still appears that the theory was not radically new by any means even then. Bertalanffy discusses the idea of a system mainly through dynamical systems in his early chapters but also discusses important issues such as open systems, teleology and the organism considered as a system. By no means does this remove the dogma of the reductionists but the whole idea can be incorporated within it by some adjustments and expansions of the original concept. In that sense it is still possible for a biologist to consider animals and plants as complex machines. Nothing in this book really forces anyone to onsider an alternative. On the other hand his later chapters from chapter 8 onwards discuss truly fascinating questions in psychology and the study of language especially noting the work of Whorf. It is these last chapters which make the book interesting. In its day it would have been something that evoked interest and fascination but now its the as yet unexplord aspects of the study of man which remain as they have always been an enigma and a source of endless wonder. A book for the development of system ideas.
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