Five schools of thought about complexity: Implications for design and process science
- George Mason Univ., Fairfax, VA (United States)
The prevalence of complexity is a fact of life in virtually all aspects of system design today. Five schools of thought concerning complexity seem to be present in areas where people strive to gain more facility with difficult issues: (1) Interdisciplinary or Cross-Disciplinary {open_quotes}approaches{close_quotes} or {open_quotes}methods{close_quotes} (fostered by the Association for Integrative Studies, a predominantly liberal-arts faculty activity), (2) Systems Dynamics (fostered by Jay Forrester, Dennis Meadows, Peter Senge, and others closely associated with MIT), (3) Chaos Theory (arising in small groups in many locations), (4) Adaptive Systems Theory (predominantly associated with the Santa Fe Institute), and (5) The Structure-Based school (developed by the author, his colleagues and associates). A comparison of these five schools of thought will be offered, in order to show the implications of them upon the development and application of design and process science. The following criteria of comparison will be used: (a) how complexity is defined, (b) analysis versus synthesis, (c) potential for acquiring practical competence in coping with complexity, and (d) relationship to underlying formalisms that facilitate computer assistance in applications. Through these comparisons, the advantages and disadvantages of each school of thought can be clarified, and the possibilities of changes in the educational system to provide for the management of complexity in system design can be articulated.
- OSTI ID:
- 501702
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-961239-; TRN: 97:002724-0056
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: IDPT-2: 2. world conference on integrated design and process technology, Austin, TX (United States), 1-4 Dec 1996; Other Information: PBD: 1996; Related Information: Is Part Of Integrated design and process technology. Volume 2; Tanik, M.M.; Bastani, F.B.; Gibson, D.; Fielding, P.J. [eds.]; PB: 454 p.
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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