Ervin Laszlo – författare

We have a choice: Breakdown or Breakthrough. In THE CHAOS POINT revered author and systems theorist Ervin Laszlo tells us that we are at a critical juncture in history, a ''decision-window'' where we face both the danger of global collapse and the opportunity of worldwide renewal. According to Laszlo we have six to seven years to head off unsustainable trends that would lead to a ''tipping point'' beyond which there is no turning back. After this tipping point we either evolve to a safer, more sustainable world, or the social, economic and ecological systems that frame our life break down. This is the Chaos Point, but this need not be the end of the world, only the end of a phase of the world beyond which a new world could dawn. In today''s decision-window we have a unique chance of creating that new world and this pioneering book tells us what healing and renewal means, and how each of us can help in achieving it.

First Published in 1972, Introduction to Systems Philosophy presents Ervin Laszlo’s first comprehensive volume on the subject. It argues for a systematic and constructive inquiry into natural phenomenon on the assumption of general order in nature. Laszlo says systems philosophy reintegrates the concept of enduring universals with transient processes within a non-bifurcated, hierarchically differentiated realm of invariant systems, as the ultimate actualities of self-structuring nature. He brings themes like the promise of systems philosophy; theory of natural systems; empirical interpretations of physical, biological, and social systems; frameworks for philosophy of mind, philosophy of nature, ontology, epistemology, metaphysics and normative ethics, to showcase the timeliness and necessity of a return from analytic to synthetic philosophy. This book is an essential read for any scholar and researcher of philosophy, philosophy of science and systems theory.

First Published in 1971, Human Values and the Mind of Man examines how value questions have been treated in traditional theories of human nature. It discusses the following topics: theory of mind as seen through the rules of the generation of languages; the implications for human value of automata theory; the nervous system, higher mental processes and human values; value consequences of various positions on the mind-body problem; the implications of self-actualization theory for human value; and specific value problems in the philosophy of mind. The book presents an interdisciplinary dialogue centred around thoughts about man and their implications for human action, decision, and nature of what we call the ‘human mind’. This book is an essential read for philosophers, psychologists, scientists, and humanists.

First Published in 1972, Introduction to Systems Philosophy presents Ervin Laszlo’s first comprehensive volume on the subject. It argues for a systematic and constructive inquiry into natural phenomenon on the assumption of general order in nature. Laszlo says systems philosophy reintegrates the concept of enduring universals with transient processes within a non-bifurcated, hierarchically differentiated realm of invariant systems, as the ultimate actualities of self-structuring nature. He brings themes like the promise of systems philosophy; theory of natural systems; empirical interpretations of physical, biological, and social systems; frameworks for philosophy of mind, philosophy of nature, ontology, epistemology, metaphysics and normative ethics, to showcase the timeliness and necessity of a return from analytic to synthetic philosophy. This book is an essential read for any scholar and researcher of philosophy, philosophy of science and systems theory.

First Published in 1971, Human Values and the Mind of Man examines how value questions have been treated in traditional theories of human nature. It discusses the following topics: theory of mind as seen through the rules of the generation of languages; the implications for human value of automata theory; the nervous system, higher mental processes and human values; value consequences of various positions on the mind-body problem; the implications of self-actualization theory for human value; and specific value problems in the philosophy of mind. The book presents an interdisciplinary dialogue centred around thoughts about man and their implications for human action, decision, and nature of what we call the ‘human mind’. This book is an essential read for philosophers, psychologists, scientists, and humanists.

First Published in 1969, System, Structure and Experience offers a basic information-flow design capable of accounting for the complex operations of a culturally cognizant and purposive mind consistently with the general relationship of the human organism and its environment. By means of the isomorphy of a hierarchically ordered series of circuits, a way is opened for resolving the traditional ‘mind- body’ or ‘psycho-physical’ problems. The work outlines the design of a self-stabilizing and self-organizing system, shows that it applies to artificial, biological as well as cognitive structures, and then undertakes to analyze the diverse facets of perpetual, scientific, aesthetic, and religious experience in its terms. The interrelation of the two or more such multi-level cognitive systems offers insights into the problems of human communication.

The book is a contribution to the scientific analysis of cognitive experience and promotes the transfer of the traditional domain of an introspectively founded philosophy of mind into the realm of modern system research.

First Published in 1969, System, Structure and Experience offers a basic information-flow design capable of accounting for the complex operations of a culturally cognizant and purposive mind consistently with the general relationship of the human organism and its environment. By means of the isomorphy of a hierarchically ordered series of circuits, a way is opened for resolving the traditional ‘mind- body’ or ‘psycho-physical’ problems. The work outlines the design of a self-stabilizing and self-organizing system, shows that it applies to artificial, biological as well as cognitive structures, and then undertakes to analyze the diverse facets of perpetual, scientific, aesthetic, and religious experience in its terms. The interrelation of the two or more such multi-level cognitive systems offers insights into the problems of human communication.

The book is a contribution to the scientific analysis of cognitive experience and promotes the transfer of the traditional domain of an introspectively founded philosophy of mind into the realm of modern system research.

This revised edition of the classic text of the period provides both the student and the specialist with an informative account of post-Roman English society.