A courageous attempt by Ludwig von Bertalanffy (1901-1972) to provide a systems framework for promoting interdisciplinary research. Drawing largely on irreversible thermodynamics and exploring its application to living systems, he devised not so much a theory, as a general model of organization applicable to open systems at different levels of analysis. In this respect, he came to influence to Piaget when he pointed out to him that his depiction of developmental stages amounted to static equilibrium encountered in closed systems. Following this exchange, Piaget considered his stages to be temporary stable states in an open system. At the heart of von Bertalanffy’s GST was the notion of logical homologies: even though the substrates of two systems may be different, their behavior could follow the same laws. The problem was that GST lacked the mathematical tools for discovering such ‘laws’, and consequently failed to meet its potential. The rise of dynamical systems theory in more recent years has enabled this and other shortcomings of GST to be overcome.
See Closed system, Dynamical systems approaches, Ecological systems theory, Homology, Irreversible thermodynamics, Open system, Organization, System, System approach