Systems thinking—Some fundamental aspects

The systems approach is evolving on three fronts. First is the development of general systems theory, second is the development of methodology and third is the application of theory and methodology to practical problems. This paper concentrates on the first topic—the development of a general systems philosophy—and focuses on two ideas. The first is the need for balance between qualitative and quantitative analysis in systems studies and the fact that systems theory provides a framework in which to balance generality and detail. The second is that the systems approach is based on classical inductive/deductive scientific method and requires both imaginative and analytical reasoning.