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Human nature, humanistic social systems, and design
Author(s) -
Lapointe Gregory
Publication year - 1998
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(199805/06)15:3<193::aid-sres221>3.0.co;2-a
Subject(s) - teleology , social system , sociology , humanism , context (archaeology) , quality (philosophy) , value (mathematics) , systems thinking , politics , human systems engineering , knowledge management , epistemology , engineering ethics , management science , environmental ethics , social science , computer science , engineering , political science , artificial intelligence , paleontology , philosophy , machine learning , law , biology
Social systems are forces that influence the quality‐of‐life within human communities, and are especially relevant for advancing or constraining a people's economic, spiritual, social‐cultural, and political development. As the world moves toward reinventing and redesigning social systems to cope with increasing complexity and challenges of the approaching twenty‐first century, ‘user designers’ need to re‐examine more closely how systems affect/effect stakeholders. This discussion links humanistic and systemic views by exploring the notion that particular system types can be incompatible with certain qualities of human nature. Four general qualities of human nature (developmental, socio‐teleological, value‐seeking, and creative/innovative) are selected and discussed in the context of the design and operation of rigidly controlled, deterministic, purposive, heuristic goal formulating, and purposeful intermediate systems types. Design Inquiry and key concepts for social system design are introduced and discussed in context to social systemic organizations designing for quality‐of‐life. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.