ABSTRACT
“Systems theory” characterizes a set of disparate yet related approaches to fields as varied as information theory, cybernetics, biology, sociology, history, literature, and philosophy. North Americans often associate it with (1) the general systems theory first developed by Ludwig von Bertalanffy and work by first- and second-order cyberneticians such as Norbert Wiener and Gregory Bateson, as well as the contemporary extensions of such work into ecology, cognitive science, AI, and disciplines as varying as psychology, literature, and media studies, (2) dynamic systems theory, as developed inter alia by Ilya Prigogine, with various developments into chaos and complexity theory, or (3) the world-systems analysis as expounded preeminently by Immanuel Wallerstein. By contrast, Germans and many other Europeans tend to associate it with (4) the work of Niklas Luhmann and his school of sociology. What unites each of these traditions of systems theory (with the exception of perhaps world-system analysis, which focuses more exclusively on economic and political systems) is a shared focus on general features of various systems and their fundamental importance for diverse areas of life. Yet there are considerable differences among these traditions, and each tradition has developed its own methodologies, journals, and forms of analysis.
