system definitions

systems definitions - from print

As noted in the introduction, definitions of system, abound. Here I simply list some definitions from the literature, planning to offer more systematic(!) critique in future and possibly hyperlinked in a matrix/map ...

A system is an assemblage of objects, principles, or facts, united by some form of regular interaction or interdependence into an organized whole (Roe et al. 1992:^ref 27-8 [1967]).

A system is a way of looking at the world. The system is a point of view – natural for a poet, yet terrifying for a scientist!  (Weinberg 1975: 52)

a system [is] a set of relations that describes some sense of connectedness (Dempster 1998a:^ref 26).

A system, for example, may be defined as any entity, physical or conceptual, which is composed of interrelated parts.  This is a widely held definition of a system; yet, it is so broad as to include virtually any interdependent set of activities or things…
Every system has a structural configuration… performs certain function… operates in a larger environment… requires certain inputs from this environment… can be thought of as moving through various states, following some definable process or set of procedures… [and] produces a set of outputs… [that] have a feedback effect on the system as a whole…
While many disciplines choose to focus on one particular aspect of a system as a vehicle for analysis, a complete understanding of a given system can be derived only by taking cognizance of all these aspects… (Catanese and Steiss 1968:^ref 173)

A system is defined (OED) as: a complex whole, a set of connected things or parts, a department of knowledge or belief considered as an organized whole. Note that a system is a whole thing, and although complex it has parts that are connected to each other in some way; thus smaller parts of systems can be identified, but it is the connection which makes it a system (Chadwick 1968: 184

Our first basic dualism has separated the universe into a self and its ambience� Our second basic dualism concerns the way we partition our ambiences, the way we manage our perceptions of the external world� It is the dualism between systems and their environments. Roughly speaking, a system in the ambience is a collection of percepts that seem to us to belong together. It would be hard to imagine a less precise definition of anything, but that is inherent in the very idea of system. The abstract concept of systemhood is indeed a very difficult one to grapple with (Rosen 1991:^ref 41).

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