“That a system is open means, not simply that it engages in interchanges with the environment, but that this interchange is an essential factor underlying the system's viability, its reproductive ability or continuity, and its ability to change.”

—  Walter F. Buckley

Source: Sociology and modern systems theory (1967), p. 50.

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "That a system is open means, not simply that it engages in interchanges with the environment, but that this interchange…" by Walter F. Buckley?
Walter F. Buckley photo
Walter F. Buckley36
American sociologist 1922–2006

Related quotes

“Openness is an essential factor underlying a system's viability, continuity, and its ability to change.”

Walter F. Buckley (1922–2006) American sociologist

Source: Sociology and modern systems theory (1967), p. 50 as cited in: Roberta R. Greene (2011) Human Behavior Theory and Social Work Practice. p. 182.

“For continued system cohesion, the mean rate of system adaptiation must equal or exceed the mean rate of change of environment.”

Derek Hitchins (1935) British systems engineer

Source: Putting systems to work (1992), p. 63 Cited in: Lars Skyttner (2005) General Systems Theory: Problems, Perspectives, Practice. p. 103

Haruki Murakami photo

“What gave money its true meaning was its dark-night namelessness, its breathtaking interchangeability.”

Haruki Murakami (1949) Japanese author, novelist

The Wind-up Bird Chronicle (1996-1997)
Context: Money had no name of course. And if it did have a name, it would no longer be money. What gave money its true meaning was its dark-night namelessness, its breathtaking interchangeability.

“A system is a set of objects with relationships between the … in may be described generally as a complex of elements or components directly or indirectly related in a causal network, … Also, we are mainly interested in systems within which some process is continually going on, including an interchange with an environment across the boundary. It is generally agreed that when we deal with the more open system with a highly flexible structure, the distinction between the boundaries and the environment becomes a more and more arbitrary matter, dependent upon the purpose of the observer.”

Arthur D. Hall (1925–2006) American electrical engineer

Cited in: Addison C. Bennett (1978) Improving management performance in health care institutions: a total systems approach.. p. 40
A methodology for systems engineering, 1962

“From the physical point of view the characteristic state of the living organism is that of an open system. A system is closed if no material enters or leaves it; it is open if there is import and export and, therefore, change of the components. Living systems are open systems, maintaining themselves in exchange of materials with environment, and in continuous building up and breaking down of their components.”

Ludwig von Bertalanffy (1901–1972) austrian biologist and philosopher

Von Bertalanffy (1950) &quot; The Theory of Open Systems in Physics and Biology http://vhpark.hyperbody.nl/images/a/aa/Bertalanffy-The_Theory_of_Open_Systems_in_Physics_and_Biology.pdf&quot; In: Science, January 13, 1950, Vol. 111. p. 23 <br class="br">1950s

Paul Watson photo

“Intelligence is the ability of a species to live in harmony with its environment.”

Paul Watson (1950) Canadian environmental activist

Worldfest video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnhqmF-RBu4

Talcott Parsons photo

“The social system is, thus, a very complex entity. As an organization of human interests, activities and commitments, it must be viewed as a system and in functional perspective. This is the key to its lines of organization, its modes of differentiation, and its integration. Such a system may be considered as both structure and process, in different aspects and for different scientific purposes. Structurally, we have suggested that there is a double basis for systematizing differentiation and variation : that internal to the primary social system itself and that involved in its relations to its primary environments, as analyzed with reference to the general system of action. Processually, the categories of analysis must follow from and integrate with those of structure. I suggest that, given the central position language as definitive of human society, the more differentiated and specialized symbolic media of interchange constitute the master scheme for the systematic analysis of social system processes.”

Talcott Parsons (1902–1979) American sociologist

Talcott Parsons (1968) "Systems Analysis: Social Systems" in: David L. Sills ed. International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences. p. 472

Haruki Murakami photo

“Money had no name of course. And if it did have a name, it would no longer be money. What gave money its true meaning was its dark-night namelessness, its breathtaking interchangeability.”

Haruki Murakami book The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle (1994-1995)

David Allen photo

“The nature of creative thinking runs counter to the nature of dealing w/its output. Ability & system to do both is freedom. GTD.”

David Allen (1945) American productivity consultant and author

2 July 2010 https://twitter.com/gtdguy/status/17537630593 <br class="br"> Official Twitter profile (@gtdguy) https://twitter.com/gtdguy

Marshall McLuhan photo

“The new overkill is simply an extension of our nervous system into a total ecological service environment. Such a service environment can liquidate or terminate its beneficiaries as naturally as it sustains them.”

Marshall McLuhan (1911–1980) Canadian educator, philosopher, and scholar-- a professor of English literature, a literary critic, and a …

Source: 1970s, Take Today : The Executive as Dropout (1972), p. 152

Related topics