Research Catalog

Title

An introduction to systems science / John N. Warfield.

Author

Warfield, John N.

Publication

Hackensack, NJ : World Scientific, [2006], ©2006.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Holdings

Details

Description

xxv, 403 pages : illustrations; 29 cm

Summary

"This is the first book that renders a thorough discussion of systems science. It draws on material from an extensive collection of external sources, including several other books and a special library collection complete with videotape empirical evidence of applicability of the theory to a wide variety of circumstances. This is essential because systems science must be responsive to diverse human situations of the widest difficulty, and it must fill the void that the specific sciences cannot fill, because these sciences are insensitive to the necessities of reconciling disparate views of multiple observers, and incorporating local conditions in hypotheses that precede inductive explorations."--BOOK JACKET.

Subject

• System theory
• System analysis

Note

• Includes partial description of the contents of the Warfield Special Collection at George Mason University's Fenwick Library.

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references and index.

Contents

Ch. 1. Unlimited scope of system science -- Ch. 2. The human being (creative and fallible) -- Ch. 3. Language (overpromising, underperforming) -- Ch. 4. Second-order thought (the stuff reason is made of) -- Ch. 5. The thought explorers (working backward through time) -- Ch. 6. Quality control in modeling structure -- Ch. 7. The situation room -- Ch. 8. Describing problematic situations -- Ch. 9. Metrics of complexity -- Ch. 10. Diagnosing -- Ch. 11. System design -- Ch. 12. Choosing from the alternatives -- Ch. 13. Implementing the design -- Ch. 14. The corporate observatorium : sustaining management communication and continuity in an age of complexity -- Ch. 15. The private sector : the practitioners ("systemists") -- Ch. 16. The government sector : the practitioners ("systemists") -- Ch. 17. The social arena : the practitioners ("systemists") -- Ch. 18. Education sector : the practitioners ("systemists") -- Ch. 19. Systems science -- Ch. 20. Reflections and speculations -- App. 1. Gallery -- App. 2. The "Warfield special collection" at the George Mason University Fenwick Library -- App. 3. Discovering systems science -- App. 4. Linguistic adjustments : precursors to understanding complexity -- App. 5. The two neutral processes of systems science -- App. 6. Statements, themes, findings, structure -- App. 7. Literacy in structural graphics : the higher education imperative.

ISBN

981256702X

OCLC

• ocm70346915
• SCSB-5264653

Owning Institutions

Columbia University Libraries