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This book deals with the contribution of a systems approach to a range of disciplines from philosophy and biology to social theory and management. It weaves together material from some of the pre-eminent thinkers of the day. In doing so it creates a coherent path from fundamental work on philosophical issues of ontology and epistemology through specific domains of knowledge about the nature of information and meaning, human communication, and social intervention.
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Realising Systems Thinking: Knowledge and Action in Management Science Contemporary Systems Thinking Series Editor: Robert L. Flood Monash University Australia COMMUNITY OPERATIONAL RESEARCH OR and Systems Thinking for Community Development Gerald Midgley and Alejandro Ochoa-Arias CRITICAL SYSTEMIC PRAXIS FOR SOIL AND ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE Participatory Policy Design and Governance for a Global Age Janet McIntyre-Mills GUIDED EVOLUTION OF SOCIETY A Systems View Bela H. Banathy METADECISIONS Rehabilitating Epistemology John P. van Gigch PROCESSES AND BOUNDARIES OF THE MIND Extending the Limit Line Yair Neuman REALISING SYSTEMS THINKING Knowledge and Action in Management Science John Mingers SOCIOPOLITICAL ECOLOGY Human Systems and Ecological Fields Frederick L. Bates SYSTEMIC INTERVENTION Philosophy, Methodology, and Practice Gerald Midgley A Continuation Order Plan is available for this series. A continuation order will bring delivery of each new volume immediately upon pulibcation. Volumes are billed only upon actual shipment. For further information please contact the publisher. Realising Systems Thinking: Knowledge and Action in Management Science John Mingers John Mingers University of Kent Canterbury, UK Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data ISBN-10: 0-387-28188-6 (HB) ISBN-10: 0-387-29841-X (e-book) ISBN-13: 978-0387-28188-9 (HB) © 2006 by Springer Science+Business Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This work may not be translated or copied in whole or in part without the written permission of the publisher (Springer Science + Business Media, Inc., 233 Spring Street, New York, NY 10013, USA), except for brief excerpts in connection with reviews or scholarly analysis. Use in connection with any form of information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now know or hereafter developed is forbidden. The use in this publication of trade names, trademarks, service marks and similar terms, even if the are not identified as such, is not to be taken as an expression of opinion as to whether or not they are subject to proprietary rights. Printed in the United States of America. 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 springeronline.com Printed on acid-free paper. SPIN 11400066 Dedicated to my family—Julie, Laura and Emma Table of Contents Chapter 1: Introduction .............................................................................................1 1.1 Introduction........................................................................................................1 1.2 Structure of the Book .........................................................................................4 Part I: Foundations.....................................................................................................9 Chapter 2: Philosophical Foundations: Critical Realism .....................................11 2.1 Introduction and Context .................................................................................11 2.2 Philosophical Problems within Management Science .....................................12 2.3 Problems in the Philosophy of Natural Science...............................................14 Empiricism .........................................................................................