System law

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A system law is a law that applies in a system . It determines the behavior of the system components and is characteristic of the system in which it applies. In terms of conceptual theory, the law-like statement that becomes true when applied to a system is a system law of this system.

Since all systems are defined in such a way that they consist of interacting parts, the functionalities of systems are based on system laws. The system laws are generally known in political systems or in physical-technical systems. The systemic laws of biological systems (such as groups , families , swarms ) are less well known , although the concept of systemic law was created to research the behavior of biological and, in particular, medical systems .

On the genesis of the term in systems theory

The existence of system laws is the condition for the existence and stability of systems; because they are something composite (Greek: σύστημα) and, through the laws of the system, something that belongs together. With the system theory developed by Bertalanffy , which began with the definition of the concept of the open system in 1926, Bertalanffy's assertion was associated from the beginning that the systems have their own regularity . Nevertheless, the concept of the system law was explicitly used relatively late. The pathologist Herbert Siegmund used the term system law as early as 1947 in his essay The pathological anatomy of hepatitis epidemica (as an example of the situation of anatomical pathology in its relationship to disease research). The explicit definition of the term "system law" is given in connection with the determination of system quantities with the help of metric terms in the essay by Wolfgang Deppert Fundamentals of a Theory of System Times from 1981.

System laws are first of all laws that prevail in individual systems, such as a growth law of an individual organism, which is determined by the DNA of this organism, or the gravitation law as the system law of the system of the physical world or the BGB as the system law of the political system of the Federal Republic of Germany . In addition, there are laws that apply to all systems from a certain system class. These laws are known as “general system laws” or “system class laws” and laws that apply to all system classes as “system super laws” or “super laws” for short.

In the system-theoretical approach, humans describe the behavior of the sub-areas of the totality of a system using system laws. If the physical cosmos is understood as a system, then the physical laws previously understood as laws of nature are also systematic laws. A system law is therefore a description of findable repetitions and regularities in a totality.

Laws are always system laws because they apply within an area of ​​application that is part of the totality of the systems. Examples of expressions of general system laws or even of super laws are descriptions such as:

Conditions that system laws must meet

System laws must meet certain conditions established by systems theory. An essential condition is: A law must describe the relationships between the individual parts of a sub-area as a holistic, coherent system. This law must not contradict its classification into the totality of conceivable sub-areas that can be described by system laws.

A system law can apply beyond the individual area described by it. System laws of different areas of knowledge not only have corresponding aspects in models and principles, but are also understood as formal identical laws.

If a system law is valid for all conceivable sub-areas of the totality of the real and virtual world, the system formation achieves a high degree of interdisciplinarity as a knowledge-enhancing connection of all areas of knowledge. That is the special concern of systems theory.

Areas of application of the term

The term is often used in the areas where the modeling of systems theory shows relationships, some examples are:

  • Ecology and global environmental change,
  • Cross-border legislation, such as B. European law, road haulage law,
  • Anatomy, cardiovascular systems, systems theory of living systems,
  • Foundation engineering and soil mechanics,
  • Systemic counseling and therapy .

Relationship to the concept of the subject

For the subject, a system law is a means of interdisciplinary knowledge integration. System laws therefore have a special relation to the concept of the subject: They arise in dependence on an active subject and describe the relations of the subject or the relation to the subject as interactions with the relations of the system elements, since the system to which they apply is not in the Reality exists, but is reflexively reconstructed by the subject.

System laws in human systems

This article or section needs to be revised: Bert Hellinger is quoted here as if he were not a charlatan but a serious researcher. I would delete everything except for the first sentence (the one with Luhmann), but I am not sure whether parts of it are also doubtful. Hob Gadling Please help us improve it , and then remove this flag.

For Niklas Luhmann ( 1984 ), system boundaries are relevant with regard to the expectations of system members (“boundaries of expected / expected actions”). This can explain the different behavior of a single individual in different systems. The focus on the system boundary, i.e. the question of inner belonging and the right to a place of each individual member within the respective (family) system, is relevant in the context of systemic constellation work . In the mid-1990s, therapists and counselors began to transfer both Hellinger's method of family constellations and the principles on which they are based to the organizational context, i.e. the professional area. In direct succession are Gunthard Weber, who shaped the organizational constellations in particular, and Klaus Grochowiak as a representative of system dynamic organizational consulting.

On the basis of Hellinger's findings on "laws" (membership, order, balance) that are effective in social systems, Insa Sparrer and Varga von Kibéd (2000) categorized the principles of action discovered in the constellation work (in part) as follows:

  1. Principle: Existence of a system (equivalence of membership)
  2. Principle: growth and reproduction (chronological order - earlier before later member but also inversely within a system: new subsystem before old; within a family system: present before origin system)
  3. Principle: Regulation of the energy flow from realized power (principle of higher input)
  4. Principle: Regulation of the flow of energy from potential performance (principle of ability priority)
  • 1. Metaprinciple: The given must be recognized (principle of non-denial of reality)
  • 2. Metaprinciple: order of the basic principles from 1 to 4

If these (almost mandatory) principles are not adhered to, structural egoism or politicization dilemmas in (organizational) systems will result.

literature

  • L. v. Bertalanffy (1972): Systems Theory , Berlin.
  • W. Böcher (1992) Nature, Science and Wholeness , Opladen.
  • W. Deppert (2002) Self-organized system times , Leipzig.
  • CW Churchman (1973) Philosophy of the Management Ethics of Overall Systems and Social Planning , Freiburg.
  • CW Churchman (1973) The Construction of Knowledge Systems , Frankfurt a. M., New York.
  • CW Churchman (1981) The system approach and its enemies , Bern, Stuttgart.
  • Herbert Hörz, Karl-Friedrich Wessel (1983): Philosophical Development Theory , Berlin.
  • Stefan Jensen (1983) Systems Theory. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart.
  • Niklas Luhmann (1984): Social systems, outline of a general theory , Frankfurt am Main.
  • Wilhelm Walgenbach (2000): Interdisciplinary System Education , Frankfurt am Main.
  • Wilhelm Walgenbach (1979): Approaches to a didactics of aesthetic-scientific practice , Weinheim.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Wolfgang Deppert: Self-organized system times . Leipzig 2002, p. 330.
  2. ↑ Ludwig v. Bertalanffy: The biological worldview . Reprint of the 1st edition, Bern 1949 by Böhlau Verlag, Vienna / Cologne 1990, page VII.
  3. ↑ Clinical weekly magazine, 24./25. Year, issue 53/54 November 1st, 1947, where it says on page 833: “Another note applies to the increasing knowledge in pathology that Virchow's cellular pathology, which is not only the last unit of life in the cell, but also a being of considerable independence is used to seeing, is to expand to a dynamic correlation pathology of functional systems. By systems I mean any formed multiplicity: the parts of which are in certain relationships to one another, under functional systems a structure of effects made up of ordered manifolds, the parts of which are organized into a specific whole through effect relationships. Within such systems, which react as a whole and are often divisible as a whole, cells and structural substances are interchangeable sub-bodies of a lower order, which are related to one another according to a certain system law and which are combined into performance units through joint services for the superordinate whole.
  4. ↑ Wolfgang Deppert: Basics of a theory of the system times . In: General journal for philosophy . Frommann-Holzboog Verlag, Stuttgart 1981, 6/2 pp. 1-25; see. also ders. Remarks on a Set Theory Extension of the Concept of Time . I: Epistemologia , Tilgher-Genova 1978, I, pp. 425-434.
  5. ↑ Wolfgang Deppert: Self-organized system times , Leipzig 2002, p. 315.
  6. ↑ W. Böcher, W. (1992): Nature, Science and Wholeness . Opladen.
  7. ↑ S. Jensen (1983): Systems Theory . Stuttgart, p. 28.
  8. ^ Stefan Kühl: Organizations. A very brief introduction. Wiesbaden 2011, p. 36: "For the understanding of organizations, the border areas are interesting where it is not clear whether a behavioral expectation has to be accepted by the members or not."
  9. ↑ Thomas S. Gerstner: Coping with organizational transitions. From management to mastering. Wiesbaden 1995, p. 151 f.
  10. ^ Franz J. Heeg, Marita Sperga: Organizational learning and self-organization. In: Developing competencies - shaping changes (Ed. Working group QUEM). Munich 2000, p. 399: “The principle of the equivalence of membership ensures the existence of the system, otherwise the concept of membership and thus the system boundary becomes problematic” (according to Sparrer / Varga von Kibéd [2000]).
  11. ↑ Gunthard Weber: Practice of Organizational Setup , Heidelberg 1998.
  12. ^ Klaus Grochowiak, Joachim Castella: Systemdynamische Organizationalberatung , Heidelberg 1999.
  13. ↑ Bert Hellinger: Further basic orders ( Memento of the original from June 14, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. ( Compensation or give and take ). @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www2.hellinger.com
  14. ↑ Cf. Klaus Grochowiak, Katharina Stresius and Ulf Pitthan, 1995: NLP and systemic therapy ( memento of the original from January 10, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF), p. 3 f: “Hellinger assumes a human original order that works in the clan. It is based on an 'order' in the narrower sense, the 'balance of give and take', the 'bond' and the 'right to belong'. " @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.cnlpa.de
  15. ↑ Cf. Katharina Stresius, Joachim Castella, Klaus Grochowiak: NLP and the family positions. On the complementarity of two therapeutic approaches. Junfermann, Paderborn 2001.
  16. ^ Franz J. Heeg, Marita Sperga: Organizational learning and self-organization. In: Developing competencies - shaping changes (Ed. Working group QUEM). Munich 2000, p. 399 f.
  17. ^ Franz J. Heeg, Marita Sperga: Organizational learning and self-organization. In: Developing competencies - shaping changes (Ed. Working group QUEM). Munich 2000, p. 399: "The principle of the direct time sequence ensures the possibility of system growth, since otherwise the loss of space of the earlier system elements usually leads to counter-reactions against the system growth." (After Sparrer / Varga von Kibéd [2000]).
  18. ^ Franz J. Heeg, Marita Sperga: Organizational learning and self-organization. In: Developing competencies - shaping changes (Ed. Working group QUEM). Munich 2000, p. 399 (after Sparrer / Varga von Kibéd [2000]).