by Hugh M. Lewis

The general systems principle may be said to be a concept that is rooted in the structural order of the natural world. 

Basically, it states that all non-random phenomena in the natural world are organized as systems upon multiple levels of stratification, therefore we may understand and model any set of related, non-random event structures in terms of some applied general systems model that sufficiently accounts for the variables used to measure such event structures in a consistent and reliable manner.

If all natural event structures cohere into systems, and all systems are organized minimally by a common set of general principles, then we should be able to assume that, similar kinds of systems occurring upon the same level of analysis, share similar systems principles, no matter where they occur, and we can expect certain basic principles to recur for all systems.

The hypothesis of a general systems principle allows us to apply general systems models to all kinds of event structures that occur in reality, at all levels of analysis, with a degree of confidence that our models may be reliable fit to the explanation of the phenomena at hand. This must be seen as a grand assist in our attempt to generally explain a wide range of natural phenomena under a common theoretical umbrella.

The General Systems Principle therefore may be said to implicitly encompass of a paradigm or a set of sub-principles that goes like this:

1. All possible event structures that have non-random patterns of occurrence are the consequence of natural self-organizing systems that fit the definition of general systems of type 1, type 2, or type 3.

2. All possible self-organizing systems that occur in reality exhibit certain basic structural patterns of organization and order that determines the behavioral outcomes and developmental trajectory within a constrained field of possibilities.

3. All systems have a developmental life-cycle marked by a beginning, a period of increase of complexity, a period of dynamic-state stability, a period of increase of simplification, and an end.

4. All event structures occur within a larger meta-systems context and the field of possibilities for each system are constrained by the unique meta-systems context in which they instantaneously occur.

5. There is only a single meta-systems context that comprehends all event structures and this is isomorphic with the physical reality of the total universe.

6. This comprehensive meta-systems context is hierarchically stratified upon three known orders of integration: 1. physical; 2. biological; 3. symbolic.

7. Each known order of integration can be analytically subdivided into sub-levels of stratified organization based upon integrative emergent properties characterizing each level.

8. There may be more orders of integration occurring, at either a sub-physical level or a super-symbolic level.

In short, we may say because all real patterns in nature are minimally organized in certain recurrent ways, they may all be defined and explained in terms of systems-based models that are adapted to the particular level and area of observational analysis and measurement.

We may say that all natural systems are self-organizing, partially determined (hence partially open), and are always constrained within a larger meta-systems context in which they occur and are developmentally determined.

We may hypothesize that there is only one grand meta-systems context that comprehends and encompasses all natural systems that we know of or that may possibly exist. An extension of the general systems principle is that, if there are multiple meta-systems that are disconnected from one another, we cannot know these alternative meta-systems, and therefore unless there is some relationship, however indirect, to our own meta-systems context, we cannot presume or act as if such alternative meta-systems exist. And if they are some how, however indirectly connected with our own meta-systems context, then they are ultimately part of the same larger meta-systems framework.

This grand meta-systems context, as far as we know or may know, is to be considered to be isomorphic with what we can call the total universe upon a physical level of order, and it leads us to see the larger structure of order of the total universe as what is known as a meta-state system. This is an important relationship to consider, as it grounds all real systems in the physical order of nature. We may say, as an extension of the General Systems Principle, the following:

9. All real systems are physically constrained, and there is no real system that is not so constrained by the physical order of nature.

Furthermore, such a meta-systems context is hierarchically stratified upon what can be considered a well system of nested derivative systems. This fact of derivative, nested stratification of all systems is significant for the extension of the general systems principle to an understanding of basic and comprehensive realities. It means that the accounting for the original organization and process of integration of systems must be upon the most fundamental physical level possible. We are left to consider the possibility of how physical systems may become organized into non-random structures from a field of what may ultimately have been totally random possibilities.

All systems arise as the result of the stochastic possibility of self-organization, which means that self-organizing systems having non-random negentropy of patterning are semi-deterministic possibilities occurring in a larger field of undetermined possibilities. If we generate a very large set of random numbers, there remains a remote possibility that some of these numbers may actually fall into non-random sequences. Given a large enough set, some of these non-random sequences of numbers may fall into patterns of non-random order at more than one level. Once such systems have become organized in a non-random, negentropic manner, then it is likely that they may become self-sustaining or self-reproducing, as long as the original conditions continue to persist that led to their organization in the first place.

Because all systems occur bound and constrained within a larger meta-systems context, we need hypothesize the non-random organization of structure from a larger random field of possibilities only on the most basic and original level of organization of systems. Once non-random sets have been organized from an original ground of random possibilities, all other systems derivative from this original level may be based upon both random and non-random factors. Thus, the fundamental level of original systems may have acted like 'seed systems' upon which all derivative systems eventually developed.

All known systems obey basic fundamental laws of systems dynamics. For instance all known systems obey what I would call energy or force dynamics, and these include at least the paradigms of thermodynamics and gravitational dynamics.

We may therefore state a tenth proposition regarding the General Systems Principle:

10. All general systems are dynamic relative to the meta-systems frame they occur within, and therefore are subject to systematic change.

The consequences of this last principle entail that ultimately, though we have homologically or analogically similar kinds of systems, all real systems are unique in the profile of their complexity and specificity of internal dynamics or relative context. 

We may furthermore stipulate that because all real systems maintain a sense of non-random order, they convey a general systems principle of design:

11. All real systems may be said to be self-organizational by integrated, implicit design which carries information about the instantaneous state and developmental/relational solution space occupied by a given system. 

Finally, the last principle alluded to by points above involve the principle of the intrinsic relativity of general systems in the sense that our awareness of such systems conditions their behavior and therefore this behavior exhibits a built-in complementariness of perspective related to the problem of holistic integration, that is unapproachable by a logical model based upon direct or simple linear causality.

12. All real systems are relative to the context of their observation and measurement, as well as to the meta-systems context of their instantaneous behavioral articulation. We may say, for instance, that similar kinds of systems, under similar kinds of conditions, can be expected to behave in similar ways with a high degree of probability. A part of these conditions are by definition the frameworks of observation and understanding we impose upon a system or kind of system.

There is something that is basic about systems. If all natural phenomena can be claimed to be part of a system of one form or another, there is then something in nature that lends itself in a very fundamental and universal manner to the organization of systems. Of course, we may say, how else could it have been done, if not in terms of a system. I would claim that there is a basic environmental responsiveness of all things in nature, and things in nature are in a process of continually interacting with and adjusting to a larger context of occurrence. Natural relations appear to respond to non-random phenomena.

General Systems Essays, Vol. I