Critical Systems Thinking and the Management of Complexity

18 Critical Systems Heuristics

Likewise, the meaning of critique threatens to be lost if we do not link it properly to the emancipatory interest, that is, if we do not give the latter an adequate methodological status and place in CST [critical systems thinking] …. The question thus is, What is the proper role of the emancipatory interest in CST?

(Ulrich 2003, p. 328)

18.1 Prologue

The main inspiration for Werner Ulrich's critical systems heuristics (CSH), as for SAST (see Chapter 14), is C. West Churchman's systems thinking. Churchman (1974) tells a story that illuminates some of the central concerns that Ulrich's approach is designed to address. My paraphrase of the story changes the names of the characters involved and simplifies their debate, but hopefully leaves the meaning intact.

There are three characters who find themselves together in the lounge of a Boeing 747. The plane was flying to New York but has been hijacked and is now bound for Cuba. One is a busy and successful executive. The second is a systems expert. The third is a professor of philosophy. They start a conversation primarily because the systems expert would like to convince the executive that the systems approach has value. A fourth character watches on while getting drunk. He utters the occasional expletive but otherwise remains silent.

The systems expert is explaining to the executive that social problems have to be seen as resulting from many different factors. The way to tackle such problems ...