The Synergy between General Systems Theory and the General Systems Worldview
The founders of the general systems movement envisaged the development of a theory articulating and inter relating the principles underlying the systemic behaviours of all kinds of concrete systems. We call this theory GST* "g s t star" to disambiguate it from other uses of the term "GST" prevalent in the literature. GST* is still radically underdeveloped, but its nature can be analysed. GST* is a formal theory, because the principles of GST* would apply across all kinds of systems, that is, GST* would predict behaviours and structures of systems qua systems, without regard for the kind of system under consideration, and hence it is neutral with respect to ontology. There is a long standing controversy within the systems community about whether a GST* actually exists, whether it would be of practical value, and how its principles might be discovered. In this paper we argue by analogy from the history of science that if a GST* existed it would be highly valuable, and show that its existence is predicated on the assumption of a philosophical framework called the General Systems Worldview. We present an argument that development of the General Systems Worldview can guide us to discovery of general systems principles for a GST* and that together GST* and the GSW can ground the development of a powerful General Systems Transdiscipline, now called "General Systemology"