2016-01-20
January 20 is the thirty-second meeting for Systems Thinking Ontario. The registration is on Eventbrite.
Systems Thinking and Sweeping-in Processes
Systems thinking is based on a premise of open systems. This means that systems interact not only with the parts defined inside a boundary specified, but also with things in the environment outside the boundary. One process is described by C. West Churchman in his reading of Edgar A. Singer:
... a Singerian inquiring system must encompass the whole breadth of inquiry in its attempt to authorize and control its procedures.
Singer describes one such process, which he labels a "sweeping-in" operation. [....] Singer's method follows a traditional one of starting with logic and noting the dimensions added by each science in turn. Thus, arithmetic adds the number and numerical laws; geometry adds point, line, plane, etc., and the laws of space; kinematics adds time and pure kinematical laws; mechanics adds mass and mechanical laws; physics adds groups and fields and statistical laws ("randomness"); biology adds function, organism and purpose, and teleological laws; psychology adds mind and psychic laws; sociology adds groups of minds and group laws; ethics adds ultimate purpose and moral laws.
The sweeping-in process consists of bringing in concepts and variables of this catalogue into the model to overcome inconsistencies of readings.
- C. West Churchman. 1971. The Design of Inquiring Systems: Basic Concepts of Systems and Organization. Basic Books, pp. 196-197.
What new science (or ideas) should we bring into our discussions at Systems Thinking Ontario in 2016?
Venue:
Suggested pre-reading:
The first Systems Thinking Ontario session was on "The Meta-design of Dialogues as Inquiring Systems". We'll revisit that.
In February, there's a "Systems Thinking 2" course at Aalto University with eight research reference clusters that may be interesting.
Participants should not feel limited to this suggested pre-reading, but should recognize that other attendees may have not read, or are reading differently, that content.
Agenda
Post-meeting artifacts
Bloggers are encouraged to write about their learning and experiences at the meeting. Links will be added to this page.