Philosophical evaluations of systems theory
pp. 79-96
in: James J. O'Rourke, Thomas J. Blakeley, Friedrich Rapp (eds), Contemporary Marxism, Berlin, Springer, 1984Abstract
The systems approach has become a major trend in contemporary thought. It has penetrated, and sometimes even dominates, a variety of disciplines, ranging from the practical to the theoretical, including philosophy. Concomitantly, diverse labels have come into circulation which are meant to cover smaller or larger sections of systems studies: systems engineering, systems analysis, systems research, systems thinking, systems science, systemology, systems theory, systems philosophy. As with any other incipient intellectual trend, the systems approach itself, as well as many of its particular implementations, have been the object of much controversy. The best-known example is the debate about The Limits to Growth (Meadows et al., 1972). It concerns the rather gloomy predictions of the so-called Club of Rome and, in particular, the dynamic world-models by means of which the predictions were obtained. Another example is the controversy about the methodology of the social sciences which was initiated by the neo-Marxist philosopher J. Habermas and the systems philosopher N.Luhmann (Habermas and Luhmann, 1971; Maciejewski, 1973). This intricate controversy touches less on implications of a practical application of the systems approach than on some of its theoretical presuppositions.
