CAN SYSTEM DYNAMICS BE THEORETICALLY IMPROVED, AND IF SO, DOES IT MATTER PRACTICALLY

System dynamics can be considered to be one of the great inventions in the study of societal systems. System dynamics represents a major bre ak with the customary and still dominant approach to such study. Never theless, there are a number of important realworld behaviors of comple x living systems that classical system dynamics cannot completely expl ain. System dynamics should be integrated with dissipative-structure t heory, synergetics, catastrophe theory, field theory, and chaos theory in order better to explain and to predict evolution, the different ki nds of stability and instability, structural change and structural con stancy, the different kinds of equilibrium situations, bifurcation, th e emergence of collective behavior, and the qualitative meaning of inf ormation. Approaches toward the integration of theory are discussed. M odel purpose is considered to be the primary factor in determining the required degree of theoretical precision in applied situations.