What is it about?

This book develops the core proposition that systems theory is an attempt to construct an “exact and scientific metaphysics,” a system of general ideas central to science that can be expressed mathematically. Collectively, these ideas would constitute a non-reductionist “theory of everything” unlike what is being sought in physics. Inherently transdisciplinary, systems theory offers ideas and methods that are relevant to all of the sciences and also to professional fields such as systems engineering, public policy, business, and social work.

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Why is it important?

To demonstrate the generality and importance of the systems project, the book structures its content in three parts: Essay, Notes, and Commentary. The Essay section is a short distillation of systems ideas that illuminate the problems that many types of systems face. Commentary explains systems thinking, its value, and its relation to mainstream scientific knowledge. It shows how systems ideas revise our understanding of science and how they impact our views on religion, politics, and history. Finally, Notes contains all the mathematics in the book, as well as scientific, philosophical, and poetic content that is accessible to readers without a strong mathematical background.

Perspectives

Perhaps you’ve heard that physicists are working on a “theory of everything,” a TOE. You might suppose that if they’re successful, we will learn a lot about literally everything. This isn’t true. Success would be a great scientific achievement in physics, but it wouldn’t help us understand the human-scale world that we live in. There is, however, another scientific project aimed at what would truly be a theory of (nearly) everything. This project has the prosaic name of “systems theory,”1 also known as the theory of “complex systems.” Systems ideas are – not surprisingly – complex, so a book about them like this one will not yield to a casual reading. But if you make an effort to engage with these ideas, I’m confident that you will expand your understanding of many things. “According to the effort is the reward” (Mishna Avot 4:23)

Martin Zwick
Portland State University

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This page is a summary of: Elements and Relations, January 2023, Springer Science + Business Media,
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-99403-7.
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