SYSTEM OF ABSTRACT SYSTEM PRINCIPLES

摘要

The goal of this paper is to formulate system principles applicable to all systems. This paperrnis based on the assumption that the main purpose of the system approach is dealing withrncomplexity, and the main method serving this purpose is analysis-synthesis. It employsrnmethodological analysis that is based on (1) Kant's teaching that system is a concept ofrnreason, applicable to sensible objects only indirectly through theoretical constructs; (2) thernActivity Approach view that system ontology should incorporate system methods; and (3)rnthe Aristotelian standard of formulating principles by means of opposition.rnFirst, based on analysis of existing definitions of system, this paper identifies thernprincipal system constituents as "unity," "parts," and "interrelationship" and mainrncategorical oppositions as "complex-simple" and "external-internal." Second, the paperrnanalyzes the earliest case of system analysis-synthesis--analysis of names in Plato'srndialogue Cratylus--and identifies four stages of analysis-synthesis and four respectivernrepresentations of system. Plato's method suggests a principal distinction between tworntypes of "parts": (1) "units" that are of the same nature as unity and (2) "elements" that arernof a different "simpler" nature. It also suggests a corresponding distinction between tworntypes of "interrelationship": (1) "organization" as interrelationship of units and (2)rn"structure" as interrelationship of elements. Third, in terms of the categorical crossoppositionrnof Complex-Simple and External-Internal, the paper formulates four systemrnprinciples of representation: Unity (external and complex), Units (external and simple),rnElements (internal and simple), and Structure (internal and complex). The correspondingrnprinciples of method are Hierarchy, (external analysis-synthesis of unity in terms of units),rnSimple Reduction-Production (analysis-synthesis of externally simple units in terms ofrninternally simple elements), Completeness (internal analysis-synthesis of a completernstructure in terms of elements), and Complex Reduction-Production (analysis-synthesis ofrnexternal complex Unity in terms of internal complex structure). Fourth, an ontologicalrnpicture that incorporates all of the above system principles as a system of principles isrnconstructed.rnThe paper concludes that the formulated principles are the abstract system principles andrnformulation of the concrete system principles would require unfolding of the abstractrncategorical cross-opposition into a concrete Aristotelian "attributive construct."