in this section we're going to continue
our discussion on analysis and synthesis
digging a bit deeper into the
distinction between the two
the first thing to note is that the
methods of synthesis and analysis are
not mutually exclusive they should both
be a part of any well-developed model
but each will have particular relevance
depending on the type or properties of
the system we are dealing with
thus it should not be a surprise to us
that physics is the home of the
reductionist approach where they are
often dealing with inert static and
decomposable systems whereas ecologists
that deal with highly interconnected and
dynamic systems are much more inclined
to systems thinking
so some of the primary questions we will
be asking to determine the type of
system we are dealing with and thus the
appropriate method of reasoning will be
firstly is it primarily a component
based system or does it serve some
common function that integrates the
various elements is it isolated or
connected is it a linear deterministic
system or a nonlinear non determinate
system and is it static or dynamic
we will be covering many of these topics
in more depth later on in the course so
we will just be touching on them for the
moment
firstly are we dealing with an actual
system or simply a set of things
we wish to talk about a composite entity
that is to say a group of things we can
describe it as either a set of objects
or system the difference here being that
a set is a group of objects that share
no common function thus we call a group
of cups on a table a set of cups as they
exist independently from each other in
contrary if we take the human body again
it is a composite entity but this time
the elements have been designed to serve
some common function and thus we can
call it a system and we need to use
systems thinking to properly understand
it
secondly how interconnected is the
system
analysis starts from a component-based
view of the world and builds a
description based upon the properties of
these components synthesis and contrary
focuses upon the relationships between
parts thus from a systems thinking
perspective we are often interested in
connectivity ie
answering the question what is connected
to what and thus is best suited to
systems with a high level of
interconnectivity
thirdly are we dealing with a linear
system or are their feedback loops
analytical thinking searches for direct
linear relations between the cause of an
event and the effect thus we call this
linear thinking systems thinking is more
inclined to see events as the product of
a complex interacting of parts where
relations are often cyclical with
feedback loops
is the system primarily static or
dynamic
analytical methods often describe
entities in terms of static structures
with limited reference to their
development within time
systems-thinking takes a more dynamic
view of things often contextualizing
entities in terms of the evolutionary
forces that have shaped them and thus
seeing the process of development as an
important phenomena with which to
understand the world
lastly are we dealing with a system on
the micro level or the macro level
analysis breaks things down into parts
and thus analytical thinking typically
focuses upon analyzing and optimizing
subsystems in a belief that we can
improve the whole system by simply
optimizing all of its sub components if
we are dealing with a system on the
macro level what we sometimes call the
global level we need to use systems
thinking to get a vision of the whole
system and an understanding of how the
parts interrelate to achieve global
functionality