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The historical meaning of present systems thinking 1
Author(s) -
Fuenmayor Ramsés
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
systems research and behavioral science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.371
H-Index - 45
eISSN - 1099-1743
pISSN - 1092-7026
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1099-1743(199707/08)14:4<235::aid-sres135>3.0.co;2-8
Subject(s) - enlightenment , epistemology , meaning (existential) , postmodernism , order (exchange) , sociology , power (physics) , relativism , constitution , shadow (psychology) , publicity , key (lock) , philosophy , aesthetics , law , psychology , computer science , political science , economics , psychoanalysis , physics , computer security , finance , quantum mechanics
Two logically opposed interpretations of the meaning of current (soft and critical) systems thinking are drawn: thinking about the holistic power structure that constitutes the ground for the possibility of a situation and thinking how to accommodate conflicting parties into a given order. The epochal coexistence of these two apparently logically opposed modes of thinking are interpreted under a historical–ontological perspective. It is shown how the failure of the project of the Enlightenment has led to the constitution of a postmodern order dominated by instrumental thinking and absolute relativism, under the shadow of a few key notions of the project of the Enlightenment that rapidly become "plastic' words in‐forming the mass media publicity game. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.