Bertalanffy Ludvig von. General System Theory: Foundations, Development, Applications

Revised Edition — George Braziller Inc., 1968. — 289 p. — (Penguin University Books)An attempt to formulate common laws that apply to virtually every scientific field, this conceptual approach has had a profound impact on such widely diverse disciplines as biology, economics, psychology, and demography.Foreword
Introduсtion
Systems Everywhere
On the History of Systems Theory
Trends in Systems Theory
The Meaning of General System Theory
The Quest for a General System Theory
Aims of General System Theory
Closed and Open Systems: Limitations of Conventional Physics
Information and Entropy
Causality and Teleology
What Is Organization?
General System Theory and the Unity of Science
General System Theory in Education: The Production of Scientific Generalists Science and Society
The Ultimate Precept: Man as the Individual
Some System Concepts in Elementary Mathematical Consideration
The System Concept
Growth
Competition
Wholeness, Sum, Mechanization, Centralization
Finality
Types of Finality
Isomorphism in Science
The Unity of Science
Advances in General System Theory
Approaches and Aims in Systems Science
Methods in General Systems Research
Advances of General System Theory
The Organism Considered as Physical System
The Organism as Open System
General Characteristics of Open
Chemical Systems
Equifinality
Biological Applications
The Model of Open System
The Living Machine and its Limitations
Some Characteristics of Open Systems
Open Systems in Biology
Open Systems and Cybernetics
Unsolved ProblemsSome Aspects of System Theory in Biology
Open Systems and Steady States
Feedback and Homeostasis
Allometry and the Surface Rule
Theory of Animal Growth
The System Concept in the Sciences of Man
The Organismic Revolution
The Image of Man in Contemporary Thought
System-Theoretical Reorientation
Systems in the Social Sciences
A System-Theoretical Concept of History
The Future in System-Theoretical Aspect
General System Theory in Psychology and Psychiatry
The Quandary of Modern Psychology
System Concepts in PsychopathologyThe Relativity of Categories
The Whorfian Hypothesis
The Biological Relativity of Categories
The Cultural Relativity of Categories
The Perspectivistic View
Notes
Appendix: The Meaning and Unity of Science
Suggestions for Further Reading