IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/srbeha/v31y2014i2p181-196.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Systems Theory and the Role of Synergy in the Evolution of Living Systems

Author

Listed:
  • Peter A. Corning

Abstract

Living systems theory and other theory and research in the systems sciences and complexity science has illuminated many aspects of how living systems work—their mechanisms, processes and relationships. The Synergism Hypothesis, originally proposed in 1983, addresses the evolution of cooperative phenomena in nature and why there has been a secular trend over time toward increased complexity in living systems. This theory highlights the role of functional synergy—adaptively significant combined effects that are interdependent and otherwise unattainable—in shaping the ‘progressive’ emergence of complex living systems. This approach is entirely consistent with modern evolutionary biology and natural selection theory and is thus radically opposed to various orthogenetic/deterministic theories of complexity that have been proposed over the years. The Synergism Hypothesis has recently gained scientific support, and there is growing appreciation for the role of various kinds of synergy as an influence in the evolutionary process. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Suggested Citation

  • Peter A. Corning, 2014. "Systems Theory and the Role of Synergy in the Evolution of Living Systems," Systems Research and Behavioral Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(2), pages 181-196, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:srbeha:v:31:y:2014:i:2:p:181-196
    DOI: 10.1002/sres.2191
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/sres.2191
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/sres.2191?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kenneth E. Boulding, 1956. "General Systems Theory--The Skeleton of Science," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 2(3), pages 197-208, April.
    2. Patrick Abbot & Jun Abe & John Alcock & Samuel Alizon & Joao A. C. Alpedrinha & Malte Andersson & Jean-Baptiste Andre & Minus van Baalen & Francois Balloux & Sigal Balshine & Nick Barton & Leo W. Beuk, 2011. "Inclusive fitness theory and eusociality," Nature, Nature, vol. 471(7339), pages 1-4, March.
    3. Martin A. Nowak & Corina E. Tarnita & Edward O. Wilson, 2010. "The evolution of eusociality," Nature, Nature, vol. 466(7310), pages 1057-1062, August.
    4. Amir Mitchell & Gal H. Romano & Bella Groisman & Avihu Yona & Erez Dekel & Martin Kupiec & Orna Dahan & Yitzhak Pilpel, 2009. "Adaptive prediction of environmental changes by microorganisms," Nature, Nature, vol. 460(7252), pages 220-224, July.
    5. Troncale, Len, 1988. "The systems sciences: What are they? are they one, or many?," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 8-33, October.
    6. Geerat Vermeij, 2009. "Comparative economics: evolution and the modern economy," Journal of Bioeconomics, Springer, vol. 11(2), pages 105-134, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Victor Court, 2018. "Energy Capture, Technological Change, and Economic Growth: An Evolutionary Perspective," Biophysical Economics and Resource Quality, Springer, vol. 3(3), pages 1-27, September.
    2. Vătămănescu Elena-Mădălina & Andrei Andreia Gabriela & Zaiţ Adriana, 2020. "Placing self-assessed health within the systems framework: a preliminary insight into social synergy and syntony," Proceedings of the International Conference on Business Excellence, Sciendo, vol. 14(1), pages 626-635, July.
    3. Gerald Midgley & Erik Lindhult, 2021. "A systems perspective on systemic innovation," Systems Research and Behavioral Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(5), pages 635-670, October.
    4. Undheim, Trond Arne, 2024. "In search of better methods for the longitudinal assessment of tech-derived X-risks: How five leading scenario planning efforts can help," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Alison R Davis Rabosky & Ammon Corl & Heather E M Liwanag & Yann Surget-Groba & Barry Sinervo, 2012. "Direct Fitness Correlates and Thermal Consequences of Facultative Aggregation in a Desert Lizard," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 7(7), pages 1-8, July.
    2. Terence C. Burnham & Jay Phelan, 2023. "Ordinaries 13: apparent spite & apparent altruism," Journal of Bioeconomics, Springer, vol. 25(3), pages 147-180, December.
    3. Peter Corning, 2013. "Rotating the Necker cube: A bioeconomic approach to cooperation and the causal role of synergy in evolution," Journal of Bioeconomics, Springer, vol. 15(2), pages 171-193, July.
    4. Matthijs van Veelen, 2024. "The generalized version of Hamilton’s rule," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 24-033/I, Tinbergen Institute.
    5. Lu, Jinfeng & Dimov, Dimo, 2023. "A system dynamics modelling of entrepreneurship and growth within firms," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 38(3).
    6. Zhang, Yifan & Shu, Gang & Li, Ya, 2017. "Strategy-updating depending on local environment enhances cooperation in prisoner’s dilemma game," Applied Mathematics and Computation, Elsevier, vol. 301(C), pages 224-232.
    7. Jin P. Gerlach & Ronald T. Cenfetelli, 2022. "Overcoming the Single-IS Paradigm in Individual-Level IS Research," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 33(2), pages 476-488, June.
    8. Catherine C Eckel & Enrique Fatas & Sara Godoy & Rick K Wilson, 2016. "Group-Level Selection Increases Cooperation in the Public Goods Game," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(8), pages 1-13, August.
    9. Aksoy, Cevat Giray & Dolls, Mathias & Durante, Ruben & Windsteiger, Lisa, 2021. "Calamities, Common Interests, Shared Identity: What Shapes Social Cohesion in Europe?," CEPR Discussion Papers 16186, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    10. Ludovic-Alexandre Vidal & Franck Marle & Mathieu Dernis, 2021. "Modeling and Estimating Host Country Values in International Projects to Facilitate In-Country Value Creation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(10), pages 1-21, May.
    11. Blair Fix, 2022. "Economic development and the death of the free market," Evolutionary and Institutional Economics Review, Springer, vol. 19(1), pages 1-46, April.
    12. George Kleiner, 2015. "State — Region — Field— Enterprise: Framework of Economics System Stability of Russia. Part 1," Economy of region, Centre for Economic Security, Institute of Economics of Ural Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences, vol. 1(2), pages 50-58.
    13. Avner Engel & Shalom Shachar, 2006. "Measuring and optimizing systems' quality costs and project duration," Systems Engineering, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 9(3), pages 259-280, September.
    14. Som B Ale & Joel S Brown & Amy T Sullivan, 2013. "Evolution of Cooperation: Combining Kin Selection and Reciprocal Altruism into Matrix Games with Social Dilemmas," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(5), pages 1-8, May.
    15. Zachary Sheaffer & Rita Mano‐Negrin, 2003. "Executives’ Orientations as Indicators of Crisis Management Policies and Practices," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(2), pages 573-606, March.
    16. Justin R. Hall & Selen Savas-Hall & Eric H. Shaw, 2023. "A deductive approach to a systematic review of entrepreneurship literature," Management Review Quarterly, Springer, vol. 73(3), pages 987-1016, September.
    17. Davies, Andrew & Manning, Stephan & Söderlund, Jonas, 2018. "When neighboring disciplines fail to learn from each other: The case of innovation and project management research," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(5), pages 965-979.
    18. Victor Court, 2018. "Energy Capture, Technological Change, and Economic Growth: An Evolutionary Perspective," Biophysical Economics and Resource Quality, Springer, vol. 3(3), pages 1-27, September.
    19. Aslihan Akdeniz & Matthijs van Veelen, 2019. "The cancellation effect at the group level," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 19-073/I, Tinbergen Institute.
    20. Justin Pence & Zahra Mohaghegh, 2020. "A Discourse on the Incorporation of Organizational Factors into Probabilistic Risk Assessment: Key Questions and Categorical Review," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 40(6), pages 1183-1211, June.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:srbeha:v:31:y:2014:i:2:p:181-196. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/1092-7026 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.