The scientist has to have a way of thinking about the environment of a system that is richer and more subtle than a mere looking at for boundaries. H… - C. West Churchman
" "The scientist has to have a way of thinking about the environment of a system that is richer and more subtle than a mere looking at for boundaries. He does this by noting that, when we say that something lies ‘outside’ the system, we mean that system can do relatively little about its characteristics or its behavior. Environment, in effect, makes up the things and people that are ‘fixed’ or ‘given’, from the system’s point of view.
About C. West Churchman
Charles West Churchman (29 August 1913 – 21 March 2004) was an American philosopher and systems scientist, known for his pioneering work in operations research, system analysis and ethics.
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Additional quotes by C. West Churchman
Common to all these enemies is that none of them accepts the reality of the "whole system": we do not exist in such a system. Furthermore, in the case of morality, religion, and aesthetics, at least a part of our reality reality as human is not "in" any system, and yet it plays a central role in our lives. To me these enemies provide a powerful way of learning about the systems approach, precisely because they enable the rational mind to step outside itself and to observe itself (from the vantage point of the enemies).
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