How Many Cultures We Have?

Abstract

Complex systems theory, as we may understand it, preserves the best traditions of the general systems theory of von Bertalanffy, mentioned in Sect. 2.2.1. While he was a biologist, who worked on the basic principles of the life, he also explored the universal laws of organizations. It seems, however, that his main interest was improving the human condition by applying “systems thinking”. Systems thinking is an important concept, and generally we feel that “complex problems”should be approached by different methods. Roughly speaking, a problem is “simple” when a single cause and a single effect can be identified. Probably the soft, and too abstract (better saying, empty) methods of systems thinking generated some revulsion, mostly among those who believe in the power of mathematical models of specific phenomena.