Subject: Definition of System Thinking

Posted by Prof. Dr. Niall Palfreyman on 11/20/2007
In Reply To:Definition of System Thinking Posted by Jack Harich on 11/16/2007

Message:

> You mentioned that structural thinking "has connotations of 'snap
> shot': it takes a view of a moment in time unlike systems thinking
> that actively uses behaviour OVER time .. a continuum."
When I read these comments and also Alice's grid for systems thinking, it seems to me that three themes come across very strongly: a) Things consist of parts; b) Things exist in context; c) Things happen reciprocally over time. Or in the language of Francisco Varela and of Jerome Bruner, systems are _enactive_ , ie: they are a) embodied, b) situated, and c) narrative. So I wonder whether the phrase 'enactive thinking' might be appropriate here? Certainly Varela makes a clear distinction between 'structural', which he uses to describe the underlying physical embodiment of a system, and 'organisational', which he uses to describe the result of the ongoing, narrative process by which a system re-creates itself from moment to moment.