“The scientist has to have a way of thinking about the environment of a system that is richer and more subtle than a mere looking at for boundaries. He does this by noting that, when we say that something lies ‘outside’ the system, we mean that system can do relatively little about its characteristics or its behavior. Environment, in effect, makes up the things and people that are ‘fixed’ or ‘given’, from the system’s point of view.”

—  C. West Churchman

Source: 1960s - 1970s, The Systems Approach (1968), p. 35

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C. West Churchman 64
American philosopher and systems scientist 1913–2004

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