An important part of scientific investigation is the discovery of universal laws and precepts that govern fundamental relations in the world. Most of this deals of course with physical systems and is the purview therefore of one form of physics or another. Philosophy is no longer looked at as being a significant contributor to the dialogue about the structure of physical reality, and there is thus a sense of living in a kind of dichotomous world in which physical worldview and metaphysical worldview operate in separate and non-congruent spheres. It is perhaps true though that physicists may need philosophers, objective philosophers, for world vision at least as much as philosophers may need physicists to retain a sense of objectivity.

Theories once received as generally universal will in time become embedded in emerging frameworks of knowledge as "special covering law models," and new candidates to claim the title of universality will emerge from the woodwork. This is to be expected as a normal pattern of the history of development of ideas and new knowledge, particularly in science where there is some sense of a track-record of intellectual achievements, a working comparative baseline and hence of definitive progress achieved in the long run.

Universal systems theory may effectively bridge the gulf between "blind" physicists and "crippled" philosophers. It may serve to revitalize the role of philosophy for science, and to simultaneously open the minds of scientists who are otherwise bound to rather narrow sets of purposes in the world. If events in the physical world appear to organize themselves in terms that are describable as systems, and if "systems" are good to think about, "things" that lend themselves wonderfully to abstract elaboration and reason, then they may provide just the common ground that is needed to effect some kind of amnesty and remarriage between the physics and philosophy, and in a larger sense, mind and body and in an academic sense the sciences and the humanities.

The problems of modern worldview have developed in large part because the scientists and the philosophers quit talking with one another, and could find no common ground any longer to communicate--the former were alleged to be "value free" or at least "neutral" on the topic of values, while the latter were confined to a prison of values, from which there could be no escape. I think there is hope for a renewal of a contract between science and philosophy when we can have a truly secular worldview in which values are important but ultimately unnecessary if we are to understand and comprehend reality. Secretly, scientists were loath to let go of religion, or a default resort to an explanation "by God." when all else might fail. Philosophers, the original atheists and secularists of the world, were put into a prison by "God fearing" theists. Whatever the case may have been, it is clear that hope for a unified and unitary worldview can only best be restored when and if scientists and philosophers resume a meaningful dialog on meaningful issues that transcend questions of value.

We may begin by asserting that in the structure of reality, all event structures are organized as systems. Therefore, all events may be accounted for in terms of the systems that they are a part of. Any explanation of natural event structure we may make, if the event structure demonstrates a sense of order and determination, must be found a relevant and relative systems framework that is appropriate to its explanation.

The happy reunion of philosophy and science in terms of universal systems theory would be productive of new models and potential experiments in answering key questions and problem areas of science that may only be approachable through a systems-based methodology. Key questions at all levels of the natural and human sciences might be thus reframed and reformulated in a productive manner. Potentially, any problem set can be recast from a systems based perspective, but the application of such a framework allows us to go after especially complex and central problem sets that have been key issues in general theoretical development.