The social system tends to be dominated by images... especially of the future, which act cybernetically, constantly guided by perceived divergences between the real and the ideal. Kenneth E. Boulding More Quotes by Kenneth E. Boulding More Quotes From Kenneth E. Boulding General Systems Theory is a name which has come into use to describe a level of theoretical model-building which lies somewhere between the highly generalized constructions of pure mathematics and the specific theories of the specialized disciplines. Mathematics attempts to organize highly general relationships into a coherent system, a system however which does not have any necessary connections with the "real" world around us. It studies all thinkable relationships abstracted from any concrete situation or body of empirical knowledge. Kenneth E. Boulding real names lying The evolutionary vision is agnostic in regard to systems in the universe of greater complexity than those of which human beings have clear knowledge. Kenneth E. Boulding agnostic complexity vision Reality, in its quantitative aspect, must be considered as a system of populations... The general study of the equilibria and dynamics of populations seems to have no name; but as it has probably reached its highest development in the biological study known as 'ecology,' this name may well be given to it. Kenneth E. Boulding population names reality Economic problems have no sharp edges. They shade off imperceptibly into politics, sociology, and ethics. Indeed, it is hardly an exaggeration to say that the ultimate answer to every economic problem lies in some other field. Kenneth E. Boulding shade answers lying Thus we seem to be on the verge of an expansion of welfare economics into something like a social science of ethics and politics: what was intended to be a mere porch to ethics is either the whole house or nothing at all. In so laying down its life welfare economics may be able to contribute some of its insights and analytical methods to a much broader evaluative analysis of the whole social process. Kenneth E. Boulding expansion analysis house The economy of the future might be called the "spaceman economy," in which the earth has become a single spaceship, without unlimited reservoirs of anything. Kenneth E. Boulding economics earth might Conventions of generality and mathematical elegance may be just as much barriers to the attainment and diffusion of knowledge as may contentment with particularity and literary vagueness... It may well be that the slovenly and literary borderland between economics and sociology will be the most fruitful building ground during the years to come and that mathematical economics will remain too flawless in its perfection to be very fruitful. Kenneth E. Boulding contentment perfection years Human artifacts not only include material structures and objects, such as buildings, machines, and automobiles, but they also include organizations, organizational structures like extended families . . . tribes, nations, corporations, churches, political parties, governments, and so on. Some of these may grow unconsciously, but they all originate and are sustained by the images in the human mind. Kenneth E. Boulding party government organization I have been gradually coming under the conviction, disturbing for a professional theorist, that there is no such thing as economics - there is only social science applied to economic problems. Kenneth E. Boulding economics conviction problem [on the theory of the firm] It is exactly analogous to the analysis of the reactions of a consumer by means of indifferent curves. Indeed, a consumer is merely a 'firm' whose product is 'utility.' Kenneth E. Boulding curves analysis mean Almost every organization... exhibits two faces a smiling face which it turns toward its members and a frowning face which it turns to the world outside. Kenneth E. Boulding frowning organization two [Even the mechanism can be endowed with an image. Thus] the thermostat has an image of the outside world in the shape of information regarding its temperature. It has also a value system in the sense of the ideal temperature at which it is set. Its behavior is directed towards the receipt of information which will bring its image and its value systems together. Kenneth E. Boulding shapes together world Because of his capacity for abstract communications and language and his ability to enter in imagination into the lives of others, man is able to build organizations of a size and complexity far beyond those of the lower animals. Kenneth E. Boulding communication animal men Justification, in terms of the broadening of freedom, for any particular form of institution of property must be argued in terms of whether the losses caused by the restrictions imposed are greater or less than the gains derived from the elimination of costly conflict. Kenneth E. Boulding conflict gains loss It is much more accurate to identify the factors of production as know-how (that is genetic information structure), energy, and materials, for, as we have seen, all processes of production involve the direction of energy by some know-how structure toward the selection, transportation, and transformation of materials into the product Kenneth E. Boulding transformation information energy [The question for the behavioral disciplines is simply] what is better, and how do we get there? Kenneth E. Boulding discipline The discounting presumably is to be done for each period of time at that rate of interest which represents the alternative cost of employing capital in the occupation in question; that is, at the rate which the entrepreneur could obtain in other investments Kenneth E. Boulding entrepreneur alternatives cost The process of consumption is the final act in the economic drama. Kenneth E. Boulding economic finals drama The right to have children should be a marketable commodity, bought and traded by individuals but absolutely limited by the state. Kenneth E. Boulding environmental commodity children We are born to love, as we are born to breathe and eat and drink. Kenneth E. Boulding breathe drink born
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