BCSSS

International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics

2nd Edition, as published by Charles François 2004 Presented by the Bertalanffy Center for the Study of Systems Science Vienna for public access.

About

The International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics was first edited and published by the system scientist Charles François in 1997. The online version that is provided here was based on the 2nd edition in 2004. It was uploaded and gifted to the center by ASC president Michael Lissack in 2019; the BCSSS purchased the rights for the re-publication of this volume in 200?. In 2018, the original editor expressed his wish to pass on the stewardship over the maintenance and further development of the encyclopedia to the Bertalanffy Center. In the future, the BCSSS seeks to further develop the encyclopedia by open collaboration within the systems sciences. Until the center has found and been able to implement an adequate technical solution for this, the static website is made accessible for the benefit of public scholarship and education.

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Y Z

"IS" and "OUGHT" MODES in SYSTEMS HEURISTICS 3)

← Back

W. ULRICH, as quoted by R.L. FLOOD and M.C. JACKSON, proposed a "Critical Systems Heuristics", based on two types of questions.

The first type, the "What is" or "Who is" type of questions, aims at discovering the factual aspects of the considered situation. Examples are:

- Who is actually the decision taker?

- What is the actual purpose of the systems design?

The second type of questions is designed to explore unclear aspects of the considered issue, as for example:

- Who ought to be the client (beneficiary) of the system to be designed or improved?

- What ought to be the purpose of the system?

ULRICH offers in both cases a table of 12 critical questions (FLOOD and JACKSON, 1991, p.206-7).

Categories

  • 1) General information
  • 2) Methodology or model
  • 3) Epistemology, ontology and semantics
  • 4) Human sciences
  • 5) Discipline oriented

Publisher

Bertalanffy Center for the Study of Systems Science(2020).

To cite this page, please use the following information:

Bertalanffy Center for the Study of Systems Science (2020). Title of the entry. In Charles François (Ed.), International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics (2). Retrieved from www.systemspedia.org/[full/url]

We thank the following partners for making the open access of this volume possible:

© 2020 BCSSS Contact/Imprint