Systems science

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Systems science, also referred to as systems research,[1] or, simply, systems,[2]
is an interdisciplinary field concerned with understanding systems—from simple to
complex—in nature, society, cognition, engineering, technology and science itself.
The field is diverse, spanning the formal, natural, social, and applied sciences.

To systems scientists, the world can be understood as a system of systems.[3] The

field aims to develop interdisciplinary foundations that are applicable in a
variety of areas, such as psychology, biology, medicine, communication, business
management, technology, computer science, engineering, and social sciences.[4]

Systems science covers formal sciences such as complex systems, cybernetics,

dynamical systems theory, information theory, linguistics or systems theory. It has
applications in the field of the natural and social sciences and engineering, such
as control theory, systems design, operations research, social systems theory,
systems biology, system dynamics, human factors, systems ecology, computer science,
systems engineering and systems psychology.[5] Themes commonly stressed in system
science are (a) holistic view, (b) interaction between a system and its embedding
environment, and (c) complex (often subtle) trajectories of dynamic behavior that
sometimes are stable (and thus reinforcing), while at various 'boundary conditions'
can become wildly unstable (and thus destructive). Concerns about Earth-scale
biosphere/geosphere dynamics is an example of the nature of problems to which
systems science seeks to contribute meaningful insights.

Contents
1 Associated fields
1.1 Theoretical fields
1.1.1 Chaos and dynamical systems
1.1.2 Complexity
1.1.3 Control theory
1.1.4 Cybernetics
1.1.5 Information theory
1.1.6 General systems theory
1.1.7 Hierarchy Theory
1.2 Practical fields
1.2.1 Critical systems thinking
1.2.2 Operations research and management science
1.2.3 Soft systems methodology
1.2.4 Systems analysis
1.2.5 Systemic design
1.2.6 Systems dynamics
1.2.7 Systems engineering
1.3 Applications in other disciplines
1.3.1 Earth system science
1.3.2 Systems biology
1.3.3 Systems chemistry
1.3.4 Systems ecology
1.3.5 Systems psychology
2 Systems scientists
3 Organizations
4 See also
5 References
6 Further reading
7 External links
Associated fields

Systems notes of Henk Bikker, TU Delft, 1991

The systems sciences are a broad array of fields. One way of conceiving of these is
in three groups: fields that have developed systems ideas primarily through theory;
those that have done so primarily through practical engagements with problem
situations; and those that have applied systems ideas in the context of other
disciplines.[6]

Theoretical fields
Chaos and dynamical systems
Main articles: Chaos theory and Dynamical systems theory
Complexity
Main article: Complex system
Control theory
Main article: Control theory
Affect control theory
Control engineering
Control systems
Cybernetics
Main article: Cybernetics
Autopoiesis
Conversation theory
Engineering cybernetics
Perceptual control theory
Management cybernetics
Second-order cybernetics
Information theory
Main article: Information theory
General systems theory
Main article: Systems Theory
See also: List of types of systems theory
Systems theory in anthropology
Biochemical systems theory
Ecological systems theory
Developmental systems theory
General systems theory
Living systems theory
LTI system theory
Social systems
Sociotechnical systems theory
Mathematical system theory
World-systems theory
Hierarchy Theory
Main article: Hierarchy theory
Practical fields
See also: Systems thinking
Critical systems thinking
Main article: Critical systems thinking
Operations research and management science
Main articles: Operations research and Management science
Soft systems methodology
Main article: Soft systems methodology
The soft systems methodology was developed in England by academics at the
University of Lancaster Systems Department through a ten-year action research
programme. The main contributor is Peter Checkland (born 18 December 1930, in
Birmingham, UK), a British management scientist and emeritus professor of systems
at Lancaster University.

Systems analysis
Main article: Systems analysis
Systems analysis branch of systems science that analyzes systems, the interactions
within those systems, or interaction with its environment,[7] often prior to their
automation as computer models. Systems analysis is closely associated with the RAND
corporation.

Systemic design
Main article: Systemic design
Systemic design integrates methodologies from systems thinking with advanced design
practices to address complex, multi-stakeholder situations.

Systems dynamics
Main article: Systems dynamics
See also: Social dynamics, Jay Forrester, and Donella Meadows
System dynamics is an approach to understanding the behavior of complex systems
over time. It offers "simulation technique for modeling business and social
systems",[8] which deals with internal feedback loops and time delays that affect
the behavior of the entire system. What makes using system dynamics different from
other approaches to studying complex systems is the use of feedback loops and
stocks and flows.
Systems engineering
Main articles: Systems engineering and Systems design
Systems engineering (SE) is an interdisciplinary field of engineering, that focuses
on the development and organization of complex systems. It is the "art and science
of creating whole solutions to complex problems",[9] for example: signal processing
systems, control systems and communication system, or other forms of high-level
modelling and design in specific fields of engineering.
Aerospace systems
Biological systems engineering
Earth systems engineering and management
Electronic systems
Enterprise systems engineering
Software systems
Systems analysis
Applications in other disciplines
Earth system science
Main article: Earth system science
Climate systems
Systems geology
Systems biology
Main article: Systems biology
Computational systems biology
Synthetic biology
Systems immunology
Systems neuroscience
Systems chemistry
Main article: Systems chemistry
Systems ecology
Main article: Systems ecology
Ecosystem ecology
Agroecology
Systems psychology
Main article: Systems psychology
Ergonomics
Family systems theory
Systemic therapy
Systems scientists
Main article: List of systems scientists
General systems scientists can be divided into different generations. The founders
of the systems movement like Ludwig von Bertalanffy, Kenneth Boulding, Ralph
Gerard, James Grier Miller, George J. Klir, and Anatol Rapoport were all born
between 1900 and 1920. They came from different natural and social science
disciplines and joined forces in the 1950s to establish the general systems theory
paradigm. Along with the organization of their efforts a first generation of
systems scientists rose.

Among them were other scientists like Ackoff, Ashby, Margaret Mead and Churchman,
who popularized the systems concept in the 1950s and 1960s. These scientists
inspired and educated a second generation with more notable scientists like Ervin
Laszlo (1932) and Fritjof Capra (1939), who wrote about systems theory in the 1970s
and 1980s. Others got acquainted and started studying these works in the 1980s and
started writing about it since the 1990s. Debora Hammond can be seen as a typical
representative of these third generation of general systems scientists.

Organizations
Main article: List of systems sciences organizations
The International Society for the Systems Sciences (ISSS) is an organisation for
interdisciplinary collaboration and synthesis of systems sciences. The ISSS is
unique among systems-oriented institutions in terms of the breadth of its scope,
bringing together scholars and practitioners from academic, business, government,
and non-profit organizations. Based on fifty years of tremendous interdisciplinary
research from the scientific study of complex systems to interactive approaches in
management and community development. This society was initially conceived in 1954
at the Stanford Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences by Ludwig von
Bertalanffy, Kenneth Boulding, Ralph Gerard, and Anatol Rapoport.

In the field of systems science the International Federation for Systems Research
(IFSR) is an international federation for global and local societies in the field
of systems science. This federation is a non-profit, scientific and educational
agency founded in 1981, and constituted of some thirty member organizations from
various countries. The overall purpose of this Federation is to advance cybernetic
and systems research and systems applications and to serve the international
systems community.

The best known research institute in the field is the Santa Fe Institute (SFI)
located in Santa Fe, New Mexico, United States, dedicated to the study of complex
systems. This institute was founded in 1984 by George Cowan, David Pines, Stirling
Colgate, Murray Gell-Mann, Nick Metropolis, Herb Anderson, Peter A. Carruthers, and
Richard Slansky. All but Pines and Gell-Mann were scientists with Los Alamos
National Laboratory. SFI's original mission was to disseminate the notion of a
separate interdisciplinary research area, complexity theory referred to at SFI as
complexity science. Recently, IIT Jodhpur in Rajasthan, India started inculcating
system science and engineering to its students through Bachelors, Masters and
Doctorate programs. This makes it the first institution to offer system science
education to students in India.
See also
diagram Systems science portal
Antireductionism
Evolutionary prototyping
Holism
Cybernetics
System engineering
System Dynamics
Systemics
System equivalence
Systems theory
Tektology
World-systems theory
Complex Systems
References
"IFSR".
Ison, Ray. Systems Practice: How to Act: In situations of uncertainty and
complexity in a climate-change world, 2nd ed, 2017. Springer, p. 33
G. E. Mobus & M. C. Kalton, Principles of Systems Science, 2015, New
York:Springer.
Philip M'Pherson (1974, p. 229); as cited by: Hieronymi, A. (2013), Understanding
Systems Science: A Visual and Integrative Approach. Syst. Res..
doi:10.1002/sres.2215. He defined systems science as "the ordered arrangement of
knowledge acquired from the study of systems in the observable world, together with
the application of this knowledge to the design of man-made systems".
According to Francis Heylighen in "What are Cybernetics and Systems Science?" on
Principia Cybernetica Web (1999) systems science is an "academic domain, that
touches virtually all traditional disciplines, from mathematics, technology and
biology to philosophy and the social sciences".
Peter Checkland. 1981. Systems Thinking, Systems Practice. Chichester: Wiley.
Anthony Debons. "Command and Control: Technology and Social Impact" in: Advances
in computers, Vol. 11. Franz L. Alt & Morris Rubinoff eds. (1971). p. 362
Center for Complex Adaptive Agent Systems Simulation Argonne National Laboratory
(2007) Managing Business Complexity : Discovering Strategic Solutions with Agent-
Based Modeling and Simulation: Discovering Strategic Solutions with Agent-Based
Modeling and Simulation. Oxford University Press. p. 55
Derek K. Hitchins (2008) Systems Engineering: A 21st Century Systems Methodology.
p. 100
Further reading
B. A. Bayraktar, Education in Systems Science, 1979, 369 pp.
Kenneth D. Bailey, "Fifty Years of Systems Science:Further Reflections", Systems
Research and Behavioral Science, 22, 2005, pp. 355–361. doi:10.1002/sres.711
Robert L. Flood, Ewart R Carson, Dealing with Complexity: An Introduction to the
Theory and Application of Systems Science (2nd Edition), 1993.
George J. Klir, Facets of Systems Science (2nd Edition), Kluwer Academic/Plenum
Publishers, 2001.
Jiri Kroc, Karel Balihar, Martin Matejovic, Complex Systems and Their Use in
Medicine: Concepts, Methods and Bio-Medical Applications, ResearchGate,
doi:10.13140/RG.2.2.29919.30887, 2019.
Ervin László, Systems Science and World Order: Selected Studies, 1983.
G. E. Mobus & M. C. Kalton, Principles of Systems Science, 2015, New York:Springer.
Anatol Rapoport (ed.), General Systems: Yearbook of the Society for the Advancement
of General Systems Theory, Society for General Systems Research, Vol 1., 1956.
Li D. Xu, "The contributions of Systems Science to Information Systems Research",
Systems Research and Behavioral Science, 17, 2000, pp. 105–116.
Graeme Donald Snooks, "A general theory of complex living systems: Exploring the
demand side of dynamics", Complexity, vol. 13, no. 6, July/August 2008.
John N. Warfield, "A proposal for Systems Science", Systems Research and Behavioral
Science, 20, 2003, pp. 507–520. doi:10.1002/sres.528
Michael C. Jackson, Critical Systems Thinking and the Management of Complexity,
2019 , Wiley.
External links

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