>[...]
>Incorporated in the above definition, by reference, is the definition of
>SYSTEM given by the greatest native-born American physical scientist, J.
>Willard Gibbs:
>
>"...any PORTION of the material universe which we choose to separate in
>thought from the rest of the universe, for the purpose of considering and
>discussing the various changes which may occur within it under various
>conditions."
>
>What do you think of that?
>
>JOHN WARFIELD
>Jwarfiel@osf1.gmu.edu
I would say that the SYSTEM inheres in those thoughts by which we
separated out a portion of the universe, not the portion of the universe
itself as Gibbs suggests. I.e., systems are mental constructs, not things
to be found in the material universe.
I also would not limit them to abstractions of the MATERIAL universe,
although I can see why a physicist like Gibbs might do that.
I do like Gibbs's implicit notion that the universe is whole and, in
systematizing, we choose to abstract.
John Snyder
Innovation On Demand
Round Rock, TX
jsnyder@bga.com