World-views as the emergent property of human value systems

Weltanschauung was first used in English by William James in the middle of the nineteenth century. It means literally 'world-perception' and is often substituted by the more pronounceable term world-view. It is used by system s theorists to designate a particular stance or premise about the way we co nceptualize our surroundings. It significantly affects our interpretation o f situations but the essence of Weltanschauung appears insufficiently explo red in systems theory. This paper examines the characteristics of personal and organizational value systems. It goes on using soft systems ideas to ex plore the proposition that world-views are the emergent property of human v alue systems. Copyright (C) 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.