An Observation to Soft Systems Methodology

摘要

A critical view on Checkland's Soft Systems Methodology (SSM) is taken in this essay. Recognizing the limitations of the positivist view of the social reality, Checkland entirely adopted the interpretive view and SSM is deeply interwoven with the ideas of Husserl's Phenomenology, Weber's Interpretive Sociology, and Hermeneutics founded by Dilthey. A questionable point of these theories is that they deny any objective basis of social reality. Without this basis, the whole structure of SSM is conceptually doubtful and some limitations of SSM at the practical level are also originated from its philosophical settings. As a further step, it is argued that the deep reason that causes the difficulties in both hard and soft system approaches is the factitious separation of the conscious processes from the real world, and what need to be done for system thinking is to re-bridge these two separated "worlds".