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The open theory and its enemy: Implicit moralisation as epistemological obstacle for general systems theory
Author(s) -
Roth Steffen
Publication year - 2019
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/sres.2590
Subject(s) - openness to experience , obstacle , closeness , epistemology , systems theory , adversary , adversarial system , computer science , positive economics , mathematical economics , economics , psychology , artificial intelligence , mathematics , social psychology , philosophy , political science , computer security , mathematical analysis , law
Ludwig von Bertalanffy decisively shaped open systems theory as challenge and alternative to the then‐dominant theories of closed systems. This strategic positioning and its success have abetted frequent and frequently implicit moralisations of openness and closeness. In this article, we draw on the concept of autopoietically closed systems to show that the prevailing affirmative bias to openness constitutes an epistemological obstacle to the advancement of general systems theory. We demonstrate how this obstacle can be removed by tetralemmatic decision programmes that facilitate the management of dilemmatic co‐occurrences of and trade‐offs between openness and closeness.