THE HISTORICAL MEANING OF PRESENT SYSTEMS THINKING

Two logically opposed interpretations of the meaning of current (soft and critical) systems thinking are drawn: thinking about the holistic power structure that constitutes the ground for the possibility of a s ituation and thinking how to accommodate conflicting parties into a gi ven order. The epochal coexistence of these two apparently logically o pposed modes of thinking are interpreted under a historical-ontologica l perspective. It is shown how the failure of the project of the Enlig htenment has led to the constitution of a postmodern order dominated b y instrumental thinking and absolute relativism, under the shadow of a few key notions of the project of the Enlightenment that rapidly beco me 'plastic' words in-forming the mass media publicity game. (C) 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.