Open systems theory ludwig von bertalanffy biography

Ludwig von Bertalanffy

Austrian biologist and systems theorist (1901–1972)

Karl Ludwig von Bertalanffy (19 September 1901 – 12 June 1972) was an Austrianbiologist known as one of authority founders of general systems uncertainly (GST). This is an interdisciplinary practice that describes systems keep an eye on interacting components, applicable to biota, cybernetics and other fields. Bertalanffy proposed that the classical engage of thermodynamics might be practical to closed systems, but plead for necessarily to "open systems" specified as living things. His precise model of an organism's emotion over time, published in 1934,^[1] is still in use at the moment.

Bertalanffy grew up in Oesterreich and subsequently worked in Vienna, London, Canada, and the Concerted States.

Biography

Ludwig von Bertalanffy was born and grew up fall apart the little village of Atzgersdorf (now Liesing) near Vienna. Ludwig's mother Caroline Agnes^[2] Vogel was seventeen when she married rectitude thirty-four-year-old Gustav. Ludwig von Bertalanffy grew up as an matchless child educated at home close to private tutors until he was ten and his parents divorced, both remarried outside the Ample Church in civil ceremonies.^[3] Considering that he arrived at his Gym (a form of grammar school) he was already well inured in learning by reading, abstruse he continued to study dress up his own. His neighbour, birth famous biologist Paul Kammerer, became a mentor and an case to the young Ludwig.^[4]

The Bertalanffy family had roots in interpretation 16th century nobility of Magyarorszag which included several scholars tube court officials.^[5] His grandfather River Joseph von Bertalanffy (1833–1912) challenging settled in Austria and was a state theatre director relish Klagenfurt, Graz and Vienna, which were important sites in regal Austria. Ludwig's father Gustav von Bertalanffy (1861–1919) was a conspicuous railway administrator. On his mother's side Ludwig's grandfather Joseph Vogel was an imperial counsellor gleam a wealthy Vienna publisher.

In 1918, Bertalanffy started his studies at the university level pulsate philosophy and art history, premier at the University of Metropolis and then at the Creation of Vienna. Ultimately, Bertalanffy difficult to make a choice halfway studying philosophy of science meticulous biology; he chose the spatter because, according to him, twin could always become a sensible later, but not a zoologist factualist. In 1926 he finished enthrone PhD thesis (Fechner und das Problem der Integration höherer Ordnung, translated title: Fechner and position Problem of Higher-Order Integration) gossip the psychologist and philosopher Gustav Theodor Fechner.^[4] For the following six years he concentrated leave out a project of "theoretical biology" which focused on the epistemology of biology. He received cap habilitation in 1934 in "theoretical biology".^[6]

Bertalanffy was appointed Privatdozent reassure the University of Vienna top 1934. The post yielded more or less income, and Bertalanffy faced everlasting financial difficulties. He applied need promotion to the status leave undone associate professor, but funding liberate yourself from the Rockefeller Foundation enabled him to make a trip joke Chicago in 1937 to duty with Nicolas Rashevsky. He was also able to visit honourableness Marine Biological Laboratory in Massachusetts.^[6]

Bertalanffy was still in the Undiplomatic when he heard of justness Anschluss in March 1938. Regardless, his attempts to remain superimpose the US failed, and recognized returned to Vienna in Oct of that year.^[6] Within deft month of his return, crystalclear joined the Nazi Party, which facilitated his promotion to academic at the University of Vienna in 1940.^[6] During the Quickly World War, he linked authority "organismic" philosophy of biology change the dominant Nazi ideology, expressly that of the Führerprinzip.^[6]

Following probity defeat of Nazism, Bertalanffy organize denazification problematic and left Vienna in 1948. He moved harm the University of London (1948–49); the Université de Montréal (1949); the University of Ottawa (1950–54); the University of Southern Calif. (1955–58); the Menninger Foundation (1958–60); the University of Alberta (1961–68); and the State University invoke New York at Buffalo (SUNY) (1969–72).

In 1972, he labour from a heart attack.

Family life

Bertalanffy met his wife, Part, in April 1924 in glory Austrian Alps. They were almost never ever apart for the uproot forty-eight years.^[7] She wanted more finish studying but never upfront, instead devoting her life put your name down Bertalanffy's career. Later, in Canada, she would work both hope against hope him and with him confine his career, and after wreath death she compiled two pick up the check Bertalanffy's last works. They esoteric a son, Felix D. Bertalanffy (1926-1999), who was a prof at the University of Manitoba^[8] and followed in his father's footsteps by making his employment in the field of mortal research.

Work

Today, Bertalanffy is advised to be a founder standing one of the principal authors of the interdisciplinary school bad buy thought known as general systems theory, which was pioneered strong Alexander Bogdanov.^[9] According to Weckowicz (1989), he "occupies an portentous position in the intellectual wildlife of the twentieth century. Government contributions went beyond biology, boss extended into cybernetics, education, narration, philosophy, psychiatry, psychology and sociology. Some of his admirers yet believe that this theory testament choice one day provide a abstract framework for all these disciplines".^[5]

Individual growth model

The individual growthmodel accessible by Ludwig von Bertalanffy presume 1934 is widely used divert biological models and exists insipid a number of permutations.

In its simplest version the professed Bertalanffy growth equation is uttered as a differential equation enjoy length (L) over time (t):

when is the Bertalanffy settlement rate and the ultimate thread of the individual. This apprehension was proposed earlier by Venerable Friedrich Robert Pūtter (1879-1929), scrawl in 1920.^[10]

The dynamic energy outgoings at all costs theory provides a mechanistic formally request of this model in say publicly case of isomorphs that get out of your system a constant food availability. Justness inverse of the Bertalanffy nurturing rate appears to depend linearly on the ultimate length, what because different food levels are compared. The intercept relates to greatness maintenance costs, the slope consent the rate at which celibacy is mobilized for use timorous metabolism. The ultimate length equals the maximum length at tall food availabilities.^[1]

Bertalanffy equation

The Bertalanffy equalisation describes the growth of spiffy tidy up biological organism. It was nip by Ludwig von Bertalanffy execute 1969.^[11]

Here W is organism load, t is the time, Unsympathetic is the area of being surface, and V is spruce up physical volume of the body.

The coefficients and are (by Bertalanffy's definition) the "coefficient time off anabolism" and "coefficient of catabolism" respectively.

The solution of integrity Bertalanffy equation is the function:

where and are constants.

Bertalanffy couldn't explain the meaning bring to an end the parameters (the coefficient work at anabolism) and (coefficient of catabolism) in his works, which prompted criticism from biologists. However, prestige Bertalanffy equation is a key case of the Tetearing equation,^[12] that is a more regular equation of the growth push a biological organism. The Tetearing equation does provide a secular meaning of the coefficients challenging .

Bertalanffy module

To honour Bertalanffy, ecological systems engineer and soul Howard T. Odum named interpretation storage symbol of his Accepted Systems Language as the Bertalanffy module (see image right).^[13]

General method theory

In the late 1920s, greatness Soviet philosopher Alexander Bogdanov pioneered "Tektology", whom Johann Plenge referred to as the theory stir up "general systems".^[9]^[14] However, in leadership West, Bertalanffy is widely official for the development of precise theory known as general silhouette theory (GST). The theory attempted to provide alternatives to square models of organization. GST characterized new foundations and developments orang-utan a generalized theory of systems with applications to numerous areas of study, emphasizing holism date reductionism, organism over mechanism.

Foundational to GST are the inter-relationships between elements which all abridged form the whole.

Publications

1928, Kritische Theorie der Formbildung, Borntraeger. Pressure English: Modern Theories of Development: An Introduction to Theoretical Biology, Oxford University Press, New York: Harper, 1933
1928, Nikolaus von Kues, G. Müller, München 1928.
1930, Lebenswissenschaft und Bildung, Stenger, Erfurt 1930
1937, Das Gefüge des Lebens, Leipzig: Teubner.
1940, Vom Molekül zur Organismenwelt, Potsdam: Akademische Verlagsgesellschaft Athenaion.
1949, Das biologische Weltbild, Bern: Europäische Rundschau. In English: Problems of Life: An Evaluation of Modern Systematic and Scientific Thought, New York: Harper, 1952.
1953, Biophysik des Fliessgleichgewichts, Braunschweig: Vieweg. 2nd rev. pointed. by W. Beier and Attention. Laue, East Berlin: Akademischer Verlag, 1977
1953, "Die Evolution der Organismen", in Schöpfungsglaube und Evolutionstheorie, Stuttgart: Alfred Kröner Verlag, pp 53–66
1955, "An Essay on the Relativity of Categories." Philosophy of Science, Vol. 22, No. 4, pp. 243–263.
1959, Stammesgeschichte, Umwelt und Menschenbild, Schriften zur wissenschaftlichen Weltorientierung Vol 5. Berlin: Lüttke
1962, Modern Theories spick and span Development, New York: Harper
1967, Robots, Men and Minds: Psychology compel the Modern World, New York: George Braziller, 1969 hardcover: ISBN 0-8076-0428-3, paperback: ISBN 0-8076-0530-1
1968, General System Theory: Foundations, Development, Applications, New York: George Braziller, revised edition 1976: ISBN 0-8076-0453-4
1968, The Organismic Psychology dowel Systems Theory, Heinz Werner lectures, Worcester: Clark University Press.
1975, Perspectives on General Systems Theory. Scientific-Philosophical Studies, E. Taschdjian (eds.), Newfound York: George Braziller, ISBN 0-8076-0797-5
1981, A Systems View of Man: Composed Essays, editor Paul A. LaViolette, Boulder: Westview Press, ISBN 0-86531-094-7

The extreme articles from Bertalanffy on popular systems theory:

1945, "Zu einer allgemeinen Systemlehre", Blätter für deutsche Philosophie, 3/4. (Extract in: Biologia Generalis, 19 (1949), 139-164).
1950, "An Outline of General System Theory", British Journal for the Epistemology of Science 1, p. 114-129.
1951, "General system theory – A virgin approach to unity of science" (Symposium), Human Biology, Dec. 1951, Vol. 23, p. 303-361.

References

^ ^a^bBertalanffy, L. von, (1934). Untersuchungen über die Gesetzlichkeit des Wachstums. Farcical. Allgemeine Grundlagen der Theorie; mathematische und physiologische Gesetzlichkeiten des Wachstums bei Wassertieren. Arch. Entwicklungsmech., 131:613-652.
^(de) Taufbuch Wien-Atzgersdorf, Vol. 15, proprietress. 333
^Mark Davidson (1983). Uncommon Sense: The Life and Thought demonstration Ludwig Von Bertalanffy. Los Angeles: J. P. Tarcher. p.49
^ ^a^bBertalanffy Center for the Study last part Systems Science, page: His Viability - Bertalanffy's Origins and her highness First Education. Retrieved 2009-04-27 Archived July 25, 2011, at loftiness Wayback Machine
^ ^a^bT.E. Weckowicz (1989). Ludwig von Bertalanffy (1901-1972): Capital Pioneer of General Systems Theory. Working paper Feb 1989. p.2
^ ^a^b^c^d^eDrack, Manfred; Apfalter, Wilfried; Pouvreau, David (11 March 2017). "On the Making of a Arrangement Theory of Life: Paul Regular Weiss and Ludwig von Bertalanffy's Conceptual Connection". The Quarterly Look at of Biology. 82 (4): 349–373. doi:10.1086/522810. PMC 2874664. PMID 18217527.
^Davidson, p. 51
^"Bertalanffy, Felix D - University provision Manitoba Archives". .
^ ^a^bGare, Arran (2000-11-01). "Aleksandr Bogdanov and Systems Theory". Democracy & Nature. 6 (3): 341–359. doi:10.1080/10855660020020230. hdl:1959.3/751. ISSN 1085-5661.
^August Friedrich Robert Pūtter (6 Apr 1879 - 11 March 1929) wrote a textbook on qualified physiology entitled Vergleichende Physiologie (Jena: G. Fischer, 1911) and diverse other notable works. For span translation of his "Studien ūber physiologische Ähnlichkeit. VI. Wachstumsähnlichkeiten" ("Studies on Physiological Similarity. VI. Analogies of Growth") in Pflūgers Archiv fūr die gesamte Physiologie nonsteroidal Menschen und der Tiere, 180: 298-340, see
^Bertalanffy, L. von, (1969). General System Theory. In mint condition York: George Braziller, pp. 136
^Alexandr N. Tetearing (2012). Theory remark populations. Moscow: SSO Foundation. p. 607. ISBN .
^Nicholas D. Rizzo William Color (Editor), Nicholas D. Rizzo (Editor), (1973) Unity Through Diversity. Ingenious Festschrift for Ludwig von Bertalanffy. Gordon & Breach Science Pub
^Plenge, Johann (1927). "Um die Allgemeine Organisationslehre"(PDF). Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv Review loom World Economics. 25: 18–29 – via Internet Archive.