ENGLISH TRANSLATION BY George Gorelik ft j{l * w A. Bogdanov 1ft . BOGDANOV • ESSAYS IN TEKTOLOGY » «! Cft Qy ft Q ft ft ft If mil THE SYSTEMS INQUIRY SERIES INTERSYSTEMS PUBLICATIONS ENGLISH TRANSLATION BY George Gorelik A. Bogdanov in THE SYSTEMS INQUIRY SERIES PUBLISHED BY INTERSYSTEMS PUBLICATIONS Copyright © 1980 of the English Translation by Intersystems Publications No part of this book may be quoted or reproduced without written permission from the publisher, except for classroom use or inclusion of brief quotations in a review. Published in the United States o f America by Intersystems Publications (Seaside, California 93955) PRINTED IN U.S.A. THE SYSTEMS INQUIRY SERIES COEDITOKS Bela H. Banathy George Klir Systems inquiry is grounded in a philosophical base of a systems view of the world. It has formulated theoretical postulates, con­ ceptual images and paradigms, and developed strategies and tools of systems technology. Systems inquiry is both conclusion orien­ ted (knowledge production) and decision oriented (knowledge utilization). It uses both analytic and synthetic modes of thinking and it enables us to understand and work with ever increasing complexities that surround us and which we arc part of. The series aims to encompass all three domains of systems inquiry: systems philosophy, systems theory and systems technology. Con­ tributions introduced in the series may focus on any one or com­ binations of these domains or develop and explain relationships among domains and thus portray the systemic nature of systems inquiry. Five kinds of presentations are considered in the scries: (1) original work by single author, (2) edited compendium organized around a common theme, (3) edited proceedings of symposia or colloquy, (4) translations from the original works, and (5) out of print works of special significance. Appearing in high quality paperback format, books in the series will be very moderately priced in order to make them accessible to the various publics who have an interest in or are involved in the systems movement. Contents INTRODUCTION / i References / ix PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION OF TEKTOLOGY, VOLUME I / xiii PREFACE TO THE NEW EDITION OF TEKTOLOGY / xv I. WHAT IS ORGANIZATIONAL SCIENCE? 1. The Unity of the Organizational Point of View i. The Organizational Activity of Mankind / 1 ii. The Organizational Activity of Nature / 4 2. The Unity of Organizational Methods / 6 3. The Path to the Organizational Science i. The Organizational Point of View in Primitive and Religious Thought / 11 ii. The Unity of Organizational Methods in Generalizing Sciences / 14 iii. Popular Tektology / 17 iv. Specialization and Transfer of Methods / 21 v. Contemporary Thought and the Idea of the General Unity of Organizational Methods / 26 vi; Proletariat and the Universal Organizational Science / 32 II. BASIC CONCEPTS AND METHODS 1. Organization and Disorganization i. Organized Complexes and Activities-Resistances / 37 ii. Disorganized and Neutral Complexes / 42 2. Paths and Methods of Investigation i. The Organizational Point of View / 47 ii. The Universal Statement of Questions / 53 iii. Methods of the Organizational Science / 55 3. The Relationship of Tektology to Particular Sciences and Philosophy / 59 III. BASIC ORGANIZATIONAL MECHANISMS 1. The Formulating Mechanism i. Conjunction / 63 ii. Ingression /. 68 iii. Disingression / 71 2. The Regulating Mechanism i. Conservative Selection / 74 ii. Dynamic Equilibrium / 78 iii. Progressive Selection / 79 IV. STABILITY OF ORGANIZATIONAL FORMS 1. Quantitative and Structural Stability / 87 2. The Law of the Minimum / 90 3. The Law of the Minimum in the Solution of Practical Problems / 94 4. Compact and Diffused Structures / 107 5. Systems of Equilibrium / 112 V. DIVERGENCE AND CONVERGENCE OF FORMS 1. The Law of Divergence / 123 2. Complementary Correlations / 127 3. Contradictions of Systemic Divergence / 136 4. The Solution to Systemic Contradictions (contra-differentiation or integration) 1 141 5. The Tektology of Struggle Against Old Age / 152 6. Convergence of Forms / 157 7. The Question of Vital Assimilation / 162 VI. CENTRALIST AND SKELETAL FORMS 1. The Origin and Development of Egression / 167 2. Significance and Limits of Egression / 175 3. The Origin and Significance of Degression / 185 4. The Development and Contradictions of Degression / 193 5. The Relationship of Egression and Degression / 198 VII. THE PATHS AND RESULTS OF SELECTION 1. Selection in Complex Systems / 203 2. Selection in Changing Environment / 208 3. Direct and Representative Selection / .213 4. The Generalizing Role of Selection / 218 5. The Relationship Between Positive and Negative Selection / 221 VIII. CRISES OF FORMS 1. General Notions of Crises / 229 2. Types of Crises / 235 3. A Limiting Equilibrium / 238 4. Crisis C / 241 5. Crisis D / 253 6. Universality of the Notion of Crises / 263 Introduction The purpose of this introduction is to provide the reader with some pertinent facts about the author of the Essays and his other related works. The introduction also offers an explanation for the long neglect of the Essays by contemporary scholars and indicates their relevance to the field of modern generalizing sciences. A. Bogdanov (pseudonym of A. A. Malinovskii), a medical doctor by education, was a prominent Russian philosopher, economist, biologist, writer, revolutionary and political figure at the turn of the century. He was born on August 22, 1873 in Sokolka, Province of Grodno, into the family of a teacher. After finishing high school with a gold medal, Bogdanov first studied natural sciences at the University of Moscow and then medicine at the University of Kharkov, from which he graduated in 1899. His pre- tektological works were in the fields of economics [3, 12], natural science [4 ], socio­ logy [5, 6 ], and philosophy [7 ], In Essays in Tektology: The Universal Organization Science [16], Bogdanov condenses his larger work, the three volume treatise, Tektologia (from the Greek word “ tekton,” meaning “ builder”) [9, 11, 14], which he had developed and published l between 1912 and 1928, the year of his death. The Essays appeared first in a series of articles in Proletarskava Kultura, 1919-1921, Nos. 7-20, and in 1921 were published in book form [10]. Tektology can be characterized as a dynamic science of complex wholes. It is con­ cerned with universal structural regularities, general types of systems, the most general laws of their transformation and the basic laws of organization of any elements in na­ ture, practice and cognition. Tektology is relevant today because it has much in common with such modern generalizing sciences as general systems theory, cybernetics [33], structuralism and catas­ trophe theory. It outlines, complements and further illuminates these sciences. In formulating the subject matter of tektology, Bogdanov analyzes the material of the most varied fields and concludes that there exist structural relations and laws which are common to the most heterogeneous phenomena. “ My initial point of departure, writes Bogdanov, “ consists in the fact that structural relations can be generalized to the same degree of formal purity of schemes as the relations of magnitudes in mathematics, and on this basis organizational problems can be solved by methods which are analogous to the methods of mathematics” [14, Vol. 3, p. 209]. Similar considerations of parallel evolution and isomorphic laws in science later led Ludw ig von Bertalanffy to “ ...postulate a new scientific discipline...” which he called the General Systems Theory [2, p. 139], The basic focus of tektology is on the acceptance of a necessity to approach the study of any phenomenon from the point of view of its organization. This necessity stems from the fact that all activities of man and nature are primarily concerned with organization and disorganization of some elements on hand. The organizing and disor­ ganizing processes of man and nature create all sorts of forms and complexes of varied levels of organization. The universe is calibrated on all its levels. In order to understand and conquer this universe, it is necessary, according to Bogdanov, to adopt the organi­ zational point of view; that is, to study any phenomenon and“..any system both from the point of view of relationships among all of its parts and the relationship between it as a whole and its environment, i.e., all external systems” [10, pp. 300-301]. This point of view is identical to the modern systems approach. Similarly to modern generalizing sciences, tektology arose not accidentally but as a natural reaction of generalizing thought against the growing splintering of science. Its main objective is to systematize the fragmented knowledge of organizational methods so that they can be studied and developed systematically. Bogdanov elaborates on this as follows: Tcktology must, clarify the modes of organization that arc perceived to exist in nature and human activity; then it must generalize and systematize these modes; further, it must explain them, that is, propose abstract schemes of their tendencies and laws; finally, based on these schemes, determine the direction of organizational methods and their role in the universal process. This general plan is similar tq the plan of any natural science; but the objec­ tive of tektology is basically different. Tektology deals with organizational experiences not of this or that specialized field, but of all these fields to­ gether. In other words, tektology embraces the subject matter of all the other sciences and of all human experience giving rise to these sciences, but only from the aspect of method; that is, it is interested only in the modes of organization of this subject matter [11, p. 82]. Bogdanov insists that the question of organization should be considered on a uni­ versal scale, for in absence of such an integral approach its solution is “ ...impossible, be­ cause a part torn out from the whole cannot be made the whole, nor can it be under­ stood apart from the whole” [11, p. 65], Tektology is firmly rooted in the natural and social sciences. Bogdanov takes great care to ensure that his new science is not only theoretically sound but also practically useful.