A Systemic View of Systems Theories

Here you can find a simple framework for describing a systems theory or teaching. Please contact us to submit your’s!

As a member of the International Society for the Systems Sciences (ISSS) Research toward General System Theory (GST) Special Integration Group (SIG), attempts to compare theories by looking at their concepts seemed logical, but didn’t work for me. I stepped back and considered context: the author’s worldview, the scope of the theory, and what the intent of the theory is. What kinds of problems does it address? What does it include that is missing in other theories? Then I consider its structure and its word usage/terminology. After putting the theory or teaching into this framework, I am ready to compare concepts.

These frameworks are works in progress. The framework template and the frameworks posted have “last updated” fields, and could very well be updated in the near future. — Lynn Rasmussen