Three General Systems Principles and Their Derivation: Insights from the Philosophy of Science Applied to Systems Concepts

Systems Engineering is currently largely based on heuristics, but it is increasingly recognizing that it needs a scientifically profound systems theoretical underpinning that would enable it to deal with systems in a more holistic manner. Such a scientific general systems theory does not yet exist. The principles-laws-theories model of modern science suggests that such a general systems theory could arise from the discovery of scientific systems laws, whose discovery in turn depends on the formulation of scientific systems principles. In this chapter, I discuss the nature of such principles, show how scientific systems principles could be discovered by applying insights from the philosophy of science and illustrate this approach by deriving three general systems principles that have practical significance for science, design and management.

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