General System Theory : Foundations, Development, Applications

by VON BERTALANFFY,LUDWIG

• ISBN13: 9780807604533
• ISBN10: 0807604534
• Edition: 00
• Format: Trade Paper
• Copyright: 1969-03-17
• Publisher: BRAZILLER

Summary

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.

Table of Contents

Foreword	vii
Acknowledgments	xi
Preface to the Revised Edition	xvii
Introduction	3	(27)
Systems Everywhere	3	(7)
On the History of Systems Theory	10	(7)
Trends in Systems Theory	17	(13)
The Meaning of General System Theory	30	(24)
The Quest for a General System Theory	30	(6)
Aims of General System Theory	36	(3)
Closed and Open Systems: Limitations of Conventional Physics	39	(2)
Information and Entropy	41	(3)
Causality and Teleology	44	(2)
What Is Organization?	46	(2)
General System Theory and the Unity of Science	48	(1)
General System Theory in Education: The Production of Scientific Generalists	49	(2)
Science and Society	51	(1)
The Ultimate Precept: Man as the Individual	52	(2)
Some System Concepts in Elementary Mathematical Consideration	54	(33)
The System Concept	54	(6)
Growth	60	(3)
Competition	63	(3)
Wholeness, Sum, Mechanization, Centralization	66	(9)
Finality	75	(2)
Types of Finality	77	(3)
Isomorphism in Science	80	(6)
The Unity of Science	86	(1)
Advances in General System Theory	87	(33)
Approaches and Aims in Systems Science	87	(7)
Methods in General Systems Research	94	(5)
Advances of General System Theory	99	(21)
The Organism Considered as Physical System	120	(19)
The Organism as Open System	120	(4)
General Characteristics of Open Chemical Systems	124	(7)
Equifinality	131	(3)
Biological Applications	134	(5)
The Model of Open System	139	(16)
The Living Machine and Its Limitations	139	(2)
Some Characteristics of Open Systems	141	(4)
Open Systems in Biology	145	(4)
Open Systems and Cybernetics	149	(2)
Unsolved Problems	151	(2)
Conclusion	153	(2)
Some Aspects of System Theory in Biology	155	(31)
Open Systems and Steady States	156	(4)
Feedback and Homeostasis	160	(3)
Allometry and the Surface Rule	163	(8)
Theory of Animal Growth	171	(13)
Summary	184	(2)
The System Concept in the Sciences of Man	186	(19)
The Organismic Revolution	186	(2)
The Image of Man in Contemporary Thought	188	(4)
System-Theoretical Re-orientation	192	(2)
Systems in the Social Sciences	194	(3)
A System-Theoretical Concept of History	197	(6)
The Future in System-Theoretical Aspect	203	(2)
General System Theory in Psychology and Psychiatry	205	(17)
The Quandary of Modern Psychology	205	(3)
System Concepts in Psychopathology	208	(12)
Conclusion	220	(2)
The Relativity of Categories	222	(29)
The Whorfian Hypothesis	222	(5)
The Biological Relativity of Categories	227	(5)
The Cultural Relativity of Categories	232	(7)
The Perspectivistic View	239	(9)
Notes	248	(3)
Appendix I: Notes on Developments in Mathematical System Theory	251	(6)
Appendix II: The Meaning and Unity of Science	257	(3)
References	260	(21)
Suggestions for Further Reading	281	(4)
Index	285