Thinking Through Systems Thinking - Hardcover

Ion Georgiou

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 041540519X ISBN 13: 9780415405195

Publisher: Routledge, 2006

Synopsis

Systemicity is receiving wider attention thanks to its evident paradox. On the one hand, it occurs as a problem with complex symptoms. On the other, it is sought after as an approach for dealing with the non-linear reality of the world. At once problem and prize, systemicity continues to confound. This book details the mechanics of this paradox as they arise from human epistemological engagement with the world.

Guided by an original analysis of the fundamental idea of emergent property, Thinking Through Systems Thinking uncovers the distinct significance, but also incompleteness, of the systems approach as a theory of human epistemological engagement. The incompleteness is treated through a non-eclectic interdisciplinary investigation which meets ten distinctly developed criteria required of any potential interdisciplinary partner to systems thinking. There results a theory of knowledge – an epistemology - which is systemic in both senses of the term: it belongs to the general systems movement, and it is systemically structured. The systems movement is thus offered a distinct epistemological voice which can compete on equal ground with other philosophical/epistemological positions. In true systemic fashion, this theory of knowledge also offers methodological, ethical, and existential implications.

About this title

From the Author

The structure of the book is as follows:

PART ONE: CONTEXTUAL INVESTIGATIONS
CHAPTER ONE - WAR
1. THE HOLISTIC/SYSTEMIC APPROACH
2. BLAME DYNAMICS
3. THE IDEA OF FEEDBACK
4. `WE HAVE THE WAR WE DESERVE'
5. CONCLUSION
CHAPTER TWO - DUALISMS
1. THE SETTING OF SCHOLARLY THOUGHT
1.1 Geometrical Thought
1.2 Flat Thought
2. EPISTEMOLOGY
3. DRIVING UP A ONE-WAY STREET
3.1 Knowledge in the Contemporary Context
3.2 Philosophy's View on Consciousness
4. SYSTEM THEORETICAL VERSUS SYSTEMIC
5. CONCLUSION
CHAPTER THREE - QUESTIONS
1. AN OUTLINE OF SYSTEM THEORY
1.1 Beginnings
1.2 Soft Systems Thinking
1.3 Critical Systems Thinking
2. EPISTEMOLOGICAL THEORIZING IN SYSTEM THEORY
3. THE FORGOTTEN EPISTEMOLOGICAL AGENDA OF SYSTEM THEORY
4. CONCLUSION

PART TWO: SYSTEM THEORETICAL INVESTIGATIONS
CHAPTER FOUR - EMERGENCE
1. THE BERTALANFFYAN UNDERSTANDING OF THE IDEA OF EMERGENT PROPERTY
2. EMERGENT PROPERTY UNDERSTOOD AS UNFORESEEN CONSEQUENCE
3. EMERGENT PROPERTY UNDERSTOOD AS REFERENCE POINT
4. SUMMARY OF THE IDEA OF EMERGENT PROPERTY AS UNDERSTOOD IN SYSTEM THEORY
5. SYSTEM THEORY'S PRELIMINARY UNDERSTANDING OF CONSCIOUSNESS
6. TWO REQUIRED IMMEDIATE INVESTIGATIONS
7. CONCLUSION
CHAPTER FIVE - EMERGENT PROPERTIES AND COMPLEXES
1. THE TRANSCENDENTAL ABILITY OF RELATIONAL CHARACTERISTICS
2. THE RELATIONAL CHARACTERISTIC AS DEPENDENT UPON COMPLEXES
3. COMPLEXES AS DEPENDENT UPON THE RELATIONAL CHARACTERISTIC
4. THE SYSTEMIC GOVERNANCE
5. A CLOSER LOOK AT THE SYSTEMIC GOVERNANCE
6. CONCLUSION
CHAPTER SIX - JUSTIFICATION
1. PANORAMIC VIEW OF THE WORK OF VON BERTALANFFY
2. THE PROJECT OF GENERAL SYSTEM THEORY
3. THE FOREMOST OBJECT OF INTEREST OF GENERAL SYSTEM THEORY
4. THE NATURE OF BERTALANFFYAN PRINCIPLES
5. CONTINUAL JUSTIFICATION
6. THE WAY TOWARD PHENOMENOLOGY
7. CONCLUSION

PART THREE: PHENOMENOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS
CHAPTER SEVEN - PERCEPTION AND INTENTION
1. APPEARANCES
2. INTRODUCTORY NOTES TO THE THEORY OF INTENTIONALITY
2.1 An Analogy: Hearing and Listening
2.2 Perceiving and Intending
3. OBJECTIVE PHENOMENA AND INTENDED PHENOMENA
4. THE EPISTEMOLOGICAL SYSTEMICITY BETWEEN PERCEPTION AND INTENTION
5. CONCLUSION
CHAPTER EIGHT - EMERGENT PROPERTIES AND IDENTITIES
1. THE DYNAMICS OF PERCEPTION OF APPEARANCES: THE CUBE EXAMPLE
2. THE INTENTION OF IDENTITIES
3. SUMMARY OF IDENTITY AS UNDERSTOOD IN PHENOMENOLOGY
3.1 Reflections of the Bertalanffyan Understanding of Emergent Property
3.2 Reflections of the Relational and Referential Understanding of Emergent Property
3.3 Reflections of the Epistemological Understanding of Emergent Property
4. SYSTEM THEORETICAL EMERGENT PROPERTIES AS PHENOMENOLOGICAL IDENTITIES
5. TWO ADDITIONAL ASPECTS OF EMERGENT PROPERTIES
6. CONCLUSION
CHAPTER NINE - INTENTIONALITY
1. INTENTIONALITY: THE CLASSIC DESCRIPTION
2. CLARIFYING THE CLASSIC DESCRIPTION
3. THE EIDETIC INCLINATION OF INTENTIONALITY
4. THE EPISTEMOLOGICAL ACTUALIZER OF INTENTIONALITY
5. CONCLUSION

PART FOUR: SYSTEMIC EPISTEMOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS
CHAPTER TEN - INTUITION
1. THE DUAL STRUCTURE OF INTUITION
1.1 Continuity/and so forth: The Intuitive Mode of Development
1.2 Repetition/one can always again: The Intuitive Mode of Repetition
2. CONTINUITY AND REPETITION IN A BERTALANFFYAN CONTEXT
2.1 The Inductive Nature of the Intuitive Mode of Repetition
3. A PRELIMINARY STUDY OF INTUITION'S TWO MODES
3.1 The Mode of Development: Intention Intuiting
3.2 The Mode of Repetition: Intuition Intending
3.3 The Mutual Exclusiveness of Intuition's Two Modes
3.4 Intuition's Two Modes: Both/And, Either/Or
4. DOGMATISM: THE MODE OF REPETITION OF INTUITIONS
5. BOUNDED RATIONALITY: THE MODE OF DEVELOPMENT OF INTUITIONS
6. CONCLUSION
CHAPTER ELEVEN - DOGMATISM AND BOUNDED RATIONALITY
1. EXPLORING DOGMATISM AND BOUNDED RATIONALITY
2. THE PRIMACY OF SYSTEMICITY
2.1 The Sartrean Dialectic
3. CONSCIOUSNESS' CHOICE
3.1 The Self-Justification of Consciousness' Choice
3.2 The Self-Responsibility Of Consciousness' Choice
4. CONCLUSION
CHAPTER TWELVE - A SYSTEMIC EPISTEMOLOGY
1. CRITICAL PRESENTATION OF THE THEORY OF BOUNDARY JUDGEMENTS
2. RECONSIDERING THE PRESENTATION
3. RESULTS OF THE PRESENTATION
4. A SYSTEMIC EPISTEMOLOGY FOR SYSTEM THEORY
5. CONCLUSION

PART FIVE: APPLIED INVESTIGATIONS
CHAPTER THIRTEEN - ALIENATION
1. THE PROPOSAL TO GROUND SOFT SYSTEMS METHODOLOGY WITHIN AN APPROPRIATE SOCIAL THEORY
1.1 The Basis of the Proposal
2. THE FUNDAMENTAL ISSUE IN THE HABERMASIAN INCORPORATION
3. THE STRONG CASE FOR EPISTEMOLOGICAL ALIENATION
4. SPECIFIC CONTRIBUTIONS TO SYSTEM THEORY'S EMBRACE OF EPISTEMOLOGICAL ALIENATION
4.1 Unconscious Forces
4.2 Ideal Speech Situation
5. THE SYSTEMIC EPISTEMOLOGY AS FUNDAMENTAL CONTRIBUTOR
6. THREE BASIC CONTRIBUTIONS TO SYSTEM THEORY
7. CONCLUSION
CHAPTER FOURTEEN - METHODOLOGICAL IMPLICATIONS
1. THE BASIC CRITICAL PRACTICE
2. THE SYSTEMIC EPISTEMOLOGY AND SOFT SYSTEMS METHODOLOGY
3. THE SYSTEMIC EPISTEMOLOGY AND BOUNDARY JUDGEMENTS
4. CONCLUSION
CHAPTER FIFTEEN - AN APPLICATION IN ORGANIZATIONAL LEARNING THEORY
1. ORGANIZATIONAL LEARNING
2. SYSTEM THEORETICAL UNDERSTANDING IN ORGANIZATIONAL LEARNING
3. EPISTEMOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT IN ORGANIZATIONAL LEARNING
4. POINTERS TOWARD THE RELEVANCE OF THE SYSTEMIC EPISTEMOLOGY TO ORGANIZATIONAL LEARNING
5. TOWARD THE OPERATIONALIZATION OF THE PRESENT INVESTIGATIONS IN THE FIELD OF ORGANIZATIONAL LEARNING
6. FRAMEWORK OF PROPOSED FUTURE RESEARCH IN ORGANIZATIONAL LEARNING
7. CONCLUSION

CONCLUDING REFLECTIONS
CHAPTER SIXTEEN - INTERDISCIPLINARY PARTNERSHIP: PRESENT RESULTS AND FUTURE RECOMMENDATIONS
1. MAIN CONTRIBUTIONS
2. THE WARS WE DESERVE
3. ON THE INHERENT INTERDISCIPLINARITY BETWEEN SYSTEM THEORY AND PHENOMENOLOGY
3.1 Reservations Regarding a Chronological Approach to Phenomenology
3.2 The Case for Sartrean Phenomenology as the Fundamental Interdisciplinary Partner to System Theory
4. CONCLUSION
BIBLIOGRAPHY
 
LIST OF TABLES
Table 1.1 Some key points of the holistic approach
Table 2.1 System theoretical vs. Systemic
Table 3.1 The forgotten epistemological agenda of system theory
Table 4.1 Twelve aspects of emergent properties as given in the system theory literature
Table 6.1 Criteria required of any potential interdisciplinary partner to system theory
Table 7.1 Aspects of hearing and of listening
Table 7.2 Aspects of perceiving and of intending
Table 8.1 Comparison between system theoretical emergent property and phenomenological identity
Table 8.2 Two additional aspects of emergent properties with comments
Table 10.1 Characterizations of each intuitive mode qua epistemological actualization of an intention
Table 11.1 Fundamental understanding of critique required of System Theory
Table 12.1 Epistemological conclusions from the foundational arguments of the theory of boundary judgements
Table 12.2 Set of modal similarities between System Theory and phenomenology
Table 12.3 Elements of an epistemology particular to System Theory
Table 12.4 The division of the moments of the systemic epistemology into activities and conditions

LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1.1 Linear causation and systemic feedback
Figure 1.2 Water flowing into a glass
Figure 1.3 Negative feedback loop
Figure 1.4 Arms in country B influenced by perceived arms in country A
Figure 1.5 Positive feedback loop
Figure 8.1 Preliminary observations on perceiving a cube
Figure 8.2 Layers of perception - sides
Figure 8.3 Layers of perception - aspects
Figure 8.4 The perception of a cube
Figure 12.1 A map of the relational arrangements of the moments of the systemic epistemology
Figure 15.1 Intending-intuiting-learning matrix
Figure 15.2 Framework of proposed future research in organizational learning

About the Author

Sao Paolo School of Business Administration (FGV-EAESP), Brazil

Edition details

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 041540519X
• ISBN 13: 9780415405195
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 262