Abstract

‘There is the realm of systems philosophy, that is, the reorientation of thought and world view following the introduction of “system” as a new scientific paradigm (in contrast to the analytic, mechanistic, linear-causal paradigm of classical science),' writes Ludwig von Bertalanffy, in reference to his General System Theory, a theory this latter that under many respects laid the ground for much of current systems science. The quotation above emphasizes the philosophical core of systems science. In this regard it is worth recalling whom the General System Theory is dedicated to: ‘Manibus Nicolai de Cusa Cardinalis, Gottfriedi Guglielmi Leibnitii, Joannis Wolfgangi de Goethe Aldique Huxleyi, necnon de Bertalanffy Pauli, S.J., antecessoris, cosmographi.’ It is a complex not inconsiderable tradition what leads Ludwig von Bertalanffy to the elaboration of his System Theory. Our starting point, however, is inspired to the last chapter of the General System Theory, the one of greatest theoretical interest, whose title reads: The Relativity of Categories. Here, Bertalanffy famously delves deep into Benjamin Whorfʼs position. Originally a cultural anthropologist, Whorf argued that different observers ‘are not led by the same physical evidence to the same picture of the universe.’ As is well known, Whorf thus intended to point to the importance of linguistic backgrounds, notably oneʼs ties to oneʼs mother tongue as a precondition for the individual cutting up of the world, in other words oneʼs peculiar segment of experience of what we call nature.