Advanced Systems-Level Problem Solving, Volume 1: Approaching Real-World Complexity with Dialectical Thinking

✍ Scribed by Otto Laske

• Publisher: Springer
• Year: 2023
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 215
• Edition: 2
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

This three-volume set introduces the practice of advanced, ‘dialectical’ systems-level problem solving in both the social and natural sciences. In social science, it opens new vistas regarding organizational, strategy, and work design. In the natural sciences, it provides heretofore missing conceptions of physical systems in peril due to the climate crisis. In addition, the author draws conclusions that are important for advancing generative AI. The monograph presents novel conceptual tools that directly impact the internal structure of a systems analyst’s mental processing in real time. While the first volume lays the theoretical groundwork for dialectical systems analysis, the second, focusing on the nature of work, lays bare the structure of complex thinking in terms of the ‘thought forms’ it requires. In order to facilitate better understanding of the principles taught in the first two volumes, the third volume provides a Manual of Dialectical Thought Forms, which is the only one in existence today.

✦ Table of Contents

Foreword
Preface
References
Acknowledgments
Introduction to the Monograph
Relationship of the Monograph to the Tradition of Systems Thinking
Bibliography
Contents
Abbreviations
Chapter 1: What Is Your Inquiring System?
The Intrinsic Fragility of “Thinking”
What Does It Mean, Then, to Think as an Adult?
The Path Not Often Taken
Three Inquiring Systems
Three Lines of Cognitive Development
Four Eras of Cognitive Development
This Book’s Central Tenets
Intermediate Summary
Empirical Evidence of Dialectical Thinking in Adults
Some Examples of Dialectical Thinking or Lack Thereof
Mary
Diagnosis
Helen
Diagnosis
Judy
Diagnosis
Practical Wisdom
Four Cognitive Transforms
From Practical Wisdom to Common Sense
Chapter Summary
Practice Reflections
Exercises (8 Instructions and 2 Questions)
Bibliography
Chapter 2: Modifications of Truth Over the Lifespan
Introduction
Three Competing Mental Processes
The Link Between Social-Emotional and Cognitive Development
Working Hypothesis
Example of a Higher Epistemic Position
Assumptions About Knowledge and Truth
Influence of Social-Emotional Maturity on Epistemic Position
The “Stage 2,” Instrumentalist Perspective on Knowledge
The Journey Toward Other-Dependence
First Inklings of Uncertainty, Kept Under Wraps
The Move Beyond Other-Dependence
The Murky Waters of Beginning Dialectics
The Onset of Post-formal Thinking
The Move to a Self-Authoring Position
A First Glimpse of Thought Forms
Three Kinds of Equilibrium
The Move to a Self-Aware Position
Interlude
A Meta-Systemic View of the Merger
Chapter Summary
Consequences for Coaching and Consulting Practice
Practice Reflections
Exercises
Bibliography
Chapter 3: Dialectic: A Framework for Its Practical Use
Chapter Emphasis
Different Views of Dialectic
Three Models of Dialectic
The Four Moments of Dialectic
The Critical and Constructive Moments of Dialectic
Moments of Dialectic Represented by Classes of Thought Forms
Dialectical Versus Kantian Inquiring Systems
Equivalence of Moments of Dialectic in Bhaskar and Basseches
Transforms and the Moments of Dialectic
The Individual Moments of Dialectic
The Dialectic of Context
Thought Contexts
Context
The Dialectic of Process
The Dialectic of Relationship
The Moments as a Set of Relationships
Constitutive Relationships
Incomplete Descriptions
Relationship
The Dialectic of Transformational Systems
Transformational System
From Moments to Thought Forms
The Crucial Transition from the Second to the Third Order of Mental Complexity
Comments on the Table
Categorical Errors
Chapter Summary
Practice Reflections
Exercises
Bibliography
Chapter 4: How Well-Tempered Is Your Thought Clavier?
Introduction
Part A: The Context of Cognitive Development
Review of Cognitive Development
The Path Toward Dialectical Thinking
The Unity of Consciousness
A Concrete Example
Interpretation of the Example
Linking Logos and Mythos
Cognitive Development Occurs in Phases Not Stages
In Search of More Ample Mental Spaces
Cognitive Equilibrium
Assimilation and Accommodation Processes of Thinking
Two Models of Dialectics
What “Develops” in Cognitive Development?
Focus of Attention
How to Distinguish the Four Classes
Four Classes of Thought Forms
Thought Form Coordination
Critical Versus Constructive Thinking
Cognitive Coaching: Using Thought Forms as Mind Openers
Part B: A Phasic Theory of the Development of Dialectical Thinking
Complex Logical Thinking as a Precursor to Dialectical Thought
What Actually Triggers Dialectical Thinking
How Dialectical Thinking Develops Over the Human Lifespan
The Relevance of Phase 3
Example
The Coordination of Epistemic, Dialectical, and Organizational Capabilities
The World as Seen in Each of the Four Phases
The Phase 1 World
The Phase 2 World
The Phase 3 World
The Phase 4 World
The Openness and Uncertainty of Cognitive Development
An Important Distinction
The Four Phases Viewed in Terms of Accommodation and Assimilation
The Stratification of “Human Being”
Chapter Summary
Practice Reflections
Exercises
Bibliography
Chapter 5: A Process Model of Social-Emotional Development
Introduction
Social-Emotional and Cognitive Orders of Mental Complexity
Outline of Thought Development in Adults
The Cognitive Structure of Social-Emotional Shifts
The Stark Limitations of Developmental Stage Models
Comments on the Stage-Thought Form Alignment
The S-2 to S-3 Range
The S-3 to S-4 Range
The S-4 to S-5 Range
Relation of Post-autonomous Stages to Practical Wisdom
New Research Topics
Chapter Summary
Practice Reflections
Exercises (See Table 4.4)
Bibliography
Untitled
Glossary
Index