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On the possibility of restoring trust from mistrust and friendship from enmity and hatred
Author(s) -
van Gigch John P.
Publication year - 2007
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.813
Subject(s) - friendship , hatred , perspective (graphical) , meaning (existential) , epistemology , process (computing) , order (exchange) , terrorism , sociology , psychology , computer science , philosophy , social psychology , law , artificial intelligence , political science , business , finance , politics , operating system
We start our investigation with Professor Russell L. Ackoff's trailblazing (Ackoff and Strümpfer, 2003) in which they considered the problem of TERRORISM from a systemic perspective. We extend their views by attempting an epistemological inquiry based on the knowledge surrounding the problem. Specifically, we proceed to acquire knowledge by parsing the concepts labelled ‘TRUST’ and ‘FRIENDSHIP’ as well as their respective antonyms ‘MISTRUST’ and ‘ENMITY’. These concepts lie at centre of any discussion of the problem raised by Ackoff and Strümpfer. We call this inquiry an epistemological inquiry because it is a method by which knowledge of a problem can be obtained in order to improve its meaning and understanding. We also invoke C. West Churchman (1971, 1979) when using the process of applying an inquiring system to solve a system problem: this process was studied in three previous papers by the present author (2005a, 2005b, 2006). See also McIntyre‐Mills, (2005, 2006). Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.