Basic Concepts

Abstract

An important factor which must be considered in the development to this point is the relatively short period of time that the need for a general systems methodology has been properly articulated. A main consequence of this is that there does not exist the generally agreed to common language which is our main concern. This is of course compounded by the fact that the very nature of general systems research implies very different backgrounds and conceptual and referential frameworks of the investigators involved. The full breadth of common identifying characteristics is thus not immediately obvious. This natural situation is not in itself damaging and in fact the process of exchange and discovery among scientists from various areas has contributed much to vitality and growth. Without precluding the continued potential for such vitality, however, it is also worth guarding against the very difficulties which have motivated systems research, those stemming from the tendency toward overspecialization. This has been traditionally discipline-driven and elements have carried over to within general systems research expressing differences in emphases which stem from the original backgrounds and motivations of different investigators.