System theory today

The main goal of the project is to systematically trace back the developments of system theory in the last 30 years. General system theory (GST) was developed by Ludwig von Betralanffy and Paul Weiss in Vienna of the 1920ies and 30ies, contemporaries like Schrödinger, Lorenz and Koestler joined in. Both founders left Austria and went to universities in Canada and New York. Their theory was distributed world wide and today nearly "everything is a system". As our pre-studies have shown a lot disciplines have adopted system theory for their needs, but some of the changed theories are already far away from the original complexity. On the one side the development in the different disciplines is positive, on the other side this leads to contradicting positions followed by misunderstandings and building up new boarders that are weakening the prime intention of system theory. System theory always was meant to be an integrative tool for all sciences and to have a dialog between scientific disciplines. The focus of the here described project lies on the reception of system theory after Bertalanffys dead. Based on the theory arising from biology the developments in different disciplines (from mathematics to engineering, from medicine to economics but especially life sciences) will be investigated. The key question is, if Bertalanffys and Weiss system theory still plays a role in science today and especially if there are contributions that broaden or reduce the concept. To complete the picture the just recently found Bertalanffy archive, which is now hosted by the University of Vienna, will play an important roll. As the system theory generally influences the development of various disciplines and the concepts of how we deal with society and environment, the knowledge of how system theory is understood today is of paramount importance.

The main goal of the project is to systematically trace back the developments of system theory in the last 30 years. General system theory (GST) was developed by Ludwig von Betralanffy and Paul Weiss in Vienna of the 1920ies and 30ies, contemporaries like Schrödinger, Lorenz and Koestler joined in. Both founders left Austria and went to universities in Canada and New York. Their theory was distributed world wide and today nearly "everything is a system". As our pre-studies have shown a lot disciplines have adopted system theory for their needs, but some of the changed theories are already far away from the original complexity. On the one side the development in the different disciplines is positive, on the other side this leads to contradicting positions followed by misunderstandings and building up new boarders that are weakening the prime intention of system theory. System theory always was meant to be an integrative tool for all sciences and to have a dialog between scientific disciplines. The focus of the here described project lies on the reception of system theory after Bertalanffys dead. Based on the theory arising from biology the developments in different disciplines (from mathematics to engineering, from medicine to economics but especially life sciences) will be investigated. The key question is, if Bertalanffys and Weiss` system theory still plays a role in science today and especially if there are contributions that broaden or reduce the concept. To complete the picture the just recently found Bertalanffy archive, which is now hosted by the University of Vienna, will play an important roll. As the system theory generally influences the development of various disciplines and the concepts of how we deal with society and environment, the knowledge of how system theory is understood today is of paramount importance.