文档介绍：DeboraDebora HammondHammond
TheThe ScienceScience
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Exploring the Social Implications
of General Systems Theory
The Science of Synthesis
The Science
of Synthesis
Exploring the Social Implications
of General Systems Theory
Debora Hammond
UNIVERSITY PRESS OF COLORADO
© 2003 by the University Press of Colorado
Published by the University Press of Colorado
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Boulder, Colorado 80303
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
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The University Press of Colorado is a cooperative publishing enterprise supported, in part, by
Adams State College, Colorado State University, Fort Lewis College, Mesa State College,
Metropolitan State College of Denver, University of Colorado, University of Northern
Colorado, and Western State College of Colorado.
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American
National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library
Materials. ANSI -1992
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Hammond, Debora, 1951–
The science of synthesis : exploring the social implications of general systems theory /
Debora Hammond.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-87081-722-1 (alk. paper)
1. System theory—History. 2. International Society for the Systems Sciences. I. Title.
Q295 .H354 2003
003—dc21
2003001884
Design by Daniel Pratt
12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
To my parents, Don and Whitty Hammond
Preface
vi
Preface
CONTENTS
List of Figures and Tables i x
Preface x i
Acknowledgments x v i i
Prologue: The Quest for Peace in a Nuclear World 1
1 The Behavioral Sciences in Postwar America 5
PART I: THE SOURCES OF SYSTEMS THINKING
2 The Science of Life: Organization in Living Systems 3 1
3 Engineering, Management, and the