Complexity Theory, Nonlinear Dynamics, and Change: Augmenting Systems Theory

Woehle, Ralph

doi:10.18060/137

Cited by 5 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…While cybernetics emphasized coordination, regulation, and control using feedback loops at the same time general systems theory attempted to elucidate profound principles underlying all types of systems whose components are linked by feedback loops [54]. Later on, advances in nonlinear dynamics in the second half of the 20th century influenced the further development of system theory, cybernetics, and complexity theory [54][55][56].…”

Section: Systems Biology From the Perspective Of Cybernetics And Complexitymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Rethinking the pragmatic systems biology and systems-theoretical biology divide: Toward a complexity-inspired epistemology of systems biomedicine

Kesić

2019

Medical Hypotheses

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This paper examines some methodological and epistemological issues underlying the ongoing -artificial‖ divide between pragmatic-systems biology and systems-theoretical biology. The pragmatic systems view of biology has encountered problems and constraints on its explanatory power because pragmatic systems biologists still tend to view systems as mere collections of parts, not as -emergent realities‖ produced by adaptive interactions between the constituting components. As such, they are incapable of characterizing the higher-level biological phenomena adequately. The attempts of systems-theoretical biologists to explain these -emergent realities‖ using mathematics also fail to produce satisfactory results.Given the increasing strategic importance of systems biology, both from theoretical and research perspectives, we suggest that additional epistemological and methodological insights into the possibility of further integration between traditional experimental studies and complex modeling are required. This integration will help to improve the currently underdeveloped pragmatic-systems biology and system-theoretical biology.The -epistemology of complexity,‖ I contend, acts as a glue that connects and integrates different and sometimes opposing viewpoints, perspectives, streams, and practices, thus maintaining intellectual and research coherence of systems research of life. It allows scientists to shift the focus from traditional experimental research to integrated, modelingbased holistic practices capable of providing a comprehensive knowledge of organizing principles of living systems. It also opens the possibility of the development of new practical and theoretical foundations of systems biology to build a better understanding of complex organismic functions.

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Section: Systems Biology From the Perspective Of Cybernetics And Complexitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Furthermore, complexity is a theory, with accompanying mathematical models, about the behavior of systems [56]. Although cybernetics and complexity are two similar and interconnected fields of research, their difference may be reflected in the next paragraph [56, p.141-142]:…”

Section: Systems Biology From the Perspective Of Cybernetics And Complexitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Rethinking the pragmatic systems biology and systems-theoretical biology divide: Toward a complexity-inspired epistemology of systems biomedicine

Kesić

2019

Medical Hypotheses

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“…Just like eco-system theory, the complexity theory has been widely applied to many disciplines that are perceived as 'not simple', and has been used to solve many problems ranging from complicated to intractable since the beginning of the 21st century. As described by Woehle (2007), complexity theory is not a theory per se, but rather a loose collection of concepts, heuristics, and analytic tools that addresses fundamental questions on the nature of systems and their changes. In the healthcare ield, the complexity theory has been adopted to improve care related interventions as it 'acknowledges the uniqueness of primary care practices and encourages lexibility in the form of intervention implementation, while maintaining idelity to its essential functions' (Litaker et al, 2006).…”

Section: Complexity Theory and Casmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…While Tuf in (2016) studied the implications of complexity theory for healthcare systems and argued that meaningful changes are more likely to occur if the connections and interaction patterns between individual components can be understood properly. However, even though the contents of complexity theory have been widely understood, in social work ield, this theory is still mainly applied to understand complex phenomena at a conceptual level (Hudson, 2000;Warren, Franklin, & Streeter, 1998;Woehle, 2007) and only a few pieces of research apply it to analyse the dynamic data patterns of those complex cases (Warren, Hawkins, & Sprott, 2003). Therefore, in this paper, after addressing the social and individual problems that are commonly faced by senior people, com-plexity theory will be introduced as a theoretical paradigm to support social work practice in hospitals.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Integrating complexity theory with health social work practice when working with senior people

Wang¹,

Wang²

2019

J. adv. humanit. soc. sci.

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Social work intervention in the contemporary healthcare system has proved a challenging practice for health workers, especially when working with senior people whose service experience always varies following nonlinear dynamics rather than linear dynamics. As social work services provided in hospitals are always perceived as the practice in "Complex Adaptive Systems (CAS), the complexity theory, which re lects continually changing needs and environments, can provide a new pathway for hospital social workers to manage the above-mentioned cases. Herein, the aim of this research is to address the feasibility and adaptability of implementing the complexity theory in hospital social work practice with a particular focus on senior service users. Firstly, this study will analyse the factors that in luence the effects of service delivery for those seniors in hospitals and explain why these cases often are perceived as complex. Then it will introduce the complexity theory and CAS with the explanation of some related basic phrases such as non-linearity, embeddedness, and attractor patterns. In the next section, how the complexity theory can be embedded in hospital social work practice and guides social workers to reform their framework for practice will be addressed. The complexity theory will be used as a complementary theory to support social work practitioners to build a multidimensional understanding of complex cases and, in addition, to impact their practice. At last, the conclusion that the complexity theory will positively in luence social work practice when dealing with complex cases related seniors will be drawn as the end of this paper.

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“…On the other hand, holism and the theory of emergence have been integral to systems theory and "complexity science", at least since von Bertalanffy's GST. However, some authors hold that emergence has made it possible to extend the narrow scope of systems theory beyond the natural sciences to the field of social and socio-technical sciences [8,[22][23][24][25][26].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Universal Complexity Science and Theory of Everything: Challenges and Prospects

Kesić

2024

Systems

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This article argues that complexity scientists have been searching for a universal complexity in the form of a “theory of everything” since some important theoretical breakthroughs such as Bertalanffy’s general systems theory, Wiener’s cybernetics, chaos theory, synergetics, self-organization, self-organized criticality and complex adaptive systems, which brought the study of complex systems into mainstream science. In this respect, much attention has been paid to the importance of a “reductionist complexity science” or a “reductionist theory of everything”. Alternatively, many scholars strongly argue for a holistic or emergentist “theory of everything”. The unifying characteristic of both attempts to account for complexity is an insistence on one robust explanatory framework to describe almost all natural and socio-technical phenomena. Nevertheless, researchers need to understand the conceptual historical background of “complexity science” in order to understand these longstanding efforts to develop a single all-inclusive theory. In this theoretical overview, I address this underappreciated problem and argue that both accounts of the “theory of everything” seem problematic, as they do not seem to be able to capture the whole of reality. This realization could mean that the idea of a single omnipotent theory falls flat. However, the prospects for a “holistic theory of everything” are much better than a “reductionist theory of everything”. Nonetheless, various forms of contemporary systems thinking and conceptual tools could make the path to the “theory of everything” much more accessible. These new advances in thinking about complexity, such as “Bohr’s complementarity”, Morin’s Complex thinking, and Cabrera’s DSRP theory, might allow the theorists to abandon the EITHER/OR logical operators and start thinking about BOTH/AND operators to seek reconciliation between reductionism and holism, which might lead them to a new “theory of everything”.

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Complexity Theory, Nonlinear Dynamics, and Change: Augmenting Systems Theory

Cited by 5 publications

References 20 publications

Rethinking the pragmatic systems biology and systems-theoretical biology divide: Toward a complexity-inspired epistemology of systems biomedicine

Rethinking the pragmatic systems biology and systems-theoretical biology divide: Toward a complexity-inspired epistemology of systems biomedicine

Integrating complexity theory with health social work practice when working with senior people

Universal Complexity Science and Theory of Everything: Challenges and Prospects

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