Introduction
The book is divided into four parts.
Part I considers the development and impact of systems ideas in four broad disciplinary areas: Philosophy (Chapter 1), the physical sciences (Chapter 2), the life sciences (Chapter 3), and the social sciences (Chapter 4). This theoretical background is necessary because it provides an introduction to the language of systems thinking and to the key concepts it employs. In the case of the social sciences, for example, a number of the systems thinkers studied in Parts II–IV have either developed their systems approaches with the help of social theory or, at least, related their work to social theory. This is significant because it can provide a basis for critique. The strengths and weaknesses of the different systems methodologies are related to the particular social theories they endorse. The intention in Part I is to make the absorption of the philosophical material as painless as possible for the reader and only to introduce those aspects of theory essential for understanding the practical systems approaches that are covered later.
Part II considers the development of systems thinking as a separate transdiscipline. Transdisciplines are unconstrained by normal academic boundaries and can recognize “messes” and “wicked problems” and not just, for example, individual marketing, production, human resource, and finance problems. Chapters 5 and 6 outline the emergence and significance of general systems theory and cybernetics, ...