realism

system

nationality

Austrian

occupation / innovator as

biologist

innovator in the field of

biology

cybernetics

general systems theory (GST)

university teacher

philosopher

Canadian

scientific organization

German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina

ecology

psychology

medicine

systemics

is the belief that the total of observable phenomena shows a structural uniformity or order in its many levels and that it allows the application of our intellectual constructions.

one cannot base and develop any science on sole experience and induction' [Bertalanffy, 1927b, 304]. 'The determination of the natural laws is the product of a kind of alchemy between observation, 'constructive activity of the reason' and an intuition 'similar to the artistic vision''. (ibid 304) 'A theoretical model is a conceptual construction', 'every scientific theory can be conceived as a conceptual model' [Bertalanffy, 1965, 300]. However, 'the actual world . . . does allow the application of our intellectual constructions' [Bertalanffy 1950, 222]. Bertalanffy holds 'that the world (i.e. the total of observable phenomena) shows a structural uniformity, manifesting itself by isomorphic traces of order in its different levels or realms' [Bertalanffy 1968, 87]. (in philosophy of complex systems 180)

is a complex of interacting elements and that they are open to, and interact with their environments.

a system is a complex of interacting elements and that they are open to, and interact with their environments.

Ludwig von Bertalanffy

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Ludwig von Bertalanffy