System theory for architects https://bit.ly/2yXGImr	Philosophy
“The most important work on EA and applied System Theory today.” “Makes EA more powerful, coherent and usable.” “I read and regularly refer… way beyond any other EA/system engineering/human factors/systems theory resource.” “I just want to tell you how much I appreciate your musings on systems… exceptionally useful”.	Descriptions <create and use> <symbolise> Describers <observe & envisage> Realities
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Among many other things, these papers explain the difference between a social system and the actors in a social network

Introduction	Systems thinking 1 The systems of interest to us 2 Thinkers before systems thinking 3 System thinkers & their ideas 4 System thinking approaches 5 Systems thinking: science or poetry? 6 Systems – abstract and concrete	System change 1 System Dynamics - intro 2 Social networks and systems 3 System change varieties 4 System state change and regulation 5 System coupling concepts 6 Self-organisation (3^rd order cybernetics)	System science and philosophy 1 The physics of systems 2 Memories and messages 3 Language and logic 4 Systems as complex types 5 The philosophy of systems 6 Triangular philosophies	System thinkers dictionary - draft System thinking ontology – draft References More references Types and sets references Laszlo and Krippner references
Cybernetics & System Dynamics	Cybernetics	System Dynamics
	Cybernetics intro Ashby’s ideas and law of variety Ashby’s cybernetics wrt EA Beer’s use of Ashby’s ideas Information feedback loops	System stability and change System Dynamics methodology Discrete event-driven systems (DEDS) Converting discrete to continuous	Relativity v quantum mechanics	Abstraction Idealisation in system theory Abstraction from “the real machine” Abstraction in the eternal golden braid Abstraction varieties and typology
General System Theory	General system theory	More obscure system properties	More about systems	Older GST musing
	General system theory More system ideas Holism and emergent properties Encapsulation The primacy of behavior Determinism and hysteresis	Complexity Goal-directedness Hierarchical (v network) organisation Chaos and non-linear behaviour Predictability and probability Agility	The elements of systems Primacy of external and behavioural views Terms and concepts in system description The anatomy of the reference model Formalising system description	System state: entities and identities Homeostasis and control Hierarchies and lattices. ISO 42010 in a nutshell What ISO 42010 means ISO change proposal
Soft Systems	Soft systems thinking	Challenging systems thinkers	System and people types	The schism
	Soft systems thinking “Complex adaptive systems” Boulding’s view of systems Snowden’s Cynefin framework Bausch’s view of systems thinking	Marx and Engels ideas Maturana’s ideas Luhmann’s ideas Ackoff’s ideas More sociological perspectives	Ackoff’s system classes System types People types	The schism in systems thinking EA, GST and social system thinking Social entities v. social systems Actors, roles and assignments
Enterprise Architecture	Enterprises as systems	Business system models	More musings	Older musings
	Enterprises as systems Premises of EA and TOGAF EA as applied system theory EA as applied systems thinking EA and philosophy Abstraction in TOGAF and Zachman	Business system modelling premises Business architecture as systems Business capabilities as social systems EA in the system theory space EA as applied system theory Quality systems Error! Bookmark not defined.	Architects, descriptions and systems Architectural descriptions of systems EA as multi-level architecture description The practical terminology challenge Enterprise state data Modelling madness.	Functionality and Logicality Granularity and Modularity Composition and Generalisation Systems as abstractions UML types and instances Modelling the passage of time
Description and Reality	Description theory	Musings	More musing	Older type theory musings
	Description theory Description Communication Information Language, logic and data Fuzzy types and fuzzy instantiation	Mental models and how brains work The magic number seven Other information theories Taxonomies and ontologies The evolution of description	Insights from description theory The psychology of description The philosophy of description Principles for a controlled vocabulary Data and reality – after Bill Kent	The evolution of types Set and type theory Types in different disciplines How things instantiate types Types and instances Types and meta types Types and instances – analysis
Philosophy	Philosophy	Philosophical musings	More philosophical musings
	The philosophy of systems System philosophy Types and tokens Knowledge and truth A critique of realism	The problem of universals Description and reality The 9 propositions of scientific idealism Insights from the idealism triangle System theory as scientific idealism Philosophical position statement	Existence in space and time Ontology and phenomenology Logical positivism (Wittgenstein) About life Relevance of the above to EA

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