Systems thinking is presented as the antithesis of "reductionism." This article -the first in a trilogy which intends to present an ontoepistemological foundation for interpretive systemology-is concerned with understanding the ontoepistemological roots of reductionism. The immediate purpose of such an understanding is to provide an interpretive contrasting context (a counterontoepistemology) against which an ontoepistemology for systems thinking can dialectically be drawn (the second and third papers in the trilogy published in this issue of Systems Practice). The inquiry into the ontoepistemological roots of reductionism leads to the principle of noncontradiction. Such a principle is shown to be the source of the merging together the most fundamental ontological and epistemological principles ruling Western thought. As such, they are shown to have brought about reductionism in modern science. Finally, the "form of essential recursiveness" is put forward as a logical antithetical form with regard to the principle of noncontradiction and which will serve as a logical instrument for developing an ontoepistemology for the systems approach.
In this introductory paper to the special issue of Systems Practice devoted to Interpretive Systemology, some of the conditions under which this trend in systems thinking has come to life are briefly depicted. For that purpose a "wider" and a "narrower" scene are presented. The "wider scene" presents the general questions and problems that are to be tackled by Interpretive Systemology, within a wide international perspective of systems thinking and practice. The narrower scene, which is related to more particular conditions, shows how some circumstances connected to the so-called "Third World" or "underdeveloped" countries have helped to trigger the launching of Interpretive Systemology. Finally, a brief outline of the research program for Interpretive Systemology is introduced.
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