Wu Jie (1996), Systems Dialectics, Beijing: Foreign Languages Press.


Just as the industrial revolution required the philosophy of dialectical materialism, so the new 'technological revolution' requires systems dialectics, argues Wu Jie: 'It has a historical summons, just as was that which led to the birth of classical Marxism.' (1996: 368)

In Systems Dialectics (1996), Wu Jie attempts to upgrade combine dialectical materialist thinking with systems theory, citing Ludwig von Bertalanffy's General Theory of Systems (1968) as a catalyst for this approach. In general, both systems and dialectics have a common interest in conceptualising the material world in terms of processes, as the interaction between parts of the system and the development of the whole system that expresses dynamic interactions, order and a common purpose. The Russian scholar Ilichev, in Philosophy and Advances in Science (1982) also claims: 'Systems method is nothing more than an organic component, an aspect, of materialist dialectics' (in Wu Jie, 1996: 289). For Wu Jie, systems dialectics represents an epistemological shift from a general material view to a systems material view, combining scientific theory with philosophy to 'deepen' materialist dialectics. He explains: 
'The theory of self-organization, which mainly consists of a dissipative structure and synergetics, primarily discloses the general mechanism and regularity of systems evolution from disorder to order or from lower to higher orders. It pushes dialectics from being a philosophical theory of general development (evolution) to a new stage, thus providing ample social, economic and scientific evidence for the creation of a new philosophy - systems dialectics.' (1996: 26)      
He argues that systems theory extends and develops Marxist thinking already based on systems principles - contradiction and matter - and confirms the 'unity of the material world system, and its wholeness and systematicness more accurately' (1996: 38). This has some precedence in that Bertalanffy also considers the resemblance between the general systems principles and dialectical materialism (Wu Jie, 1996: 6).

Like scientific work in general, there is an ideological element to this with scholars from the former Soviet Union, Eastern Europe and China extending Western science to their own purpose; and in the case of Wu Jie and China, there is also a cultural connection to concepts such as Yin and Yang, as well as Taoism. Despite this, he mainly traces the lineage here through Western philosophy: from mechanistic systems thinking that places the sun at the centre of a spatial solar system, to a theory of the biological organism as a system in turn developed by Darwinian evolutionary theory. Wu Jie recognises that systems theory reflects new pluralistic structures that have replaced the post-cold war period of bipolar antagonisms. As social practices change so too systems dialectical thinking in keeping with the principle that Marxist philosophy must be reformed and developed to avoid stagnation (perhaps this was something Wu Jie expressed during the 'cultural revolution' that left him imprisoned for 4 years). 

Any other fixed view would simply be non-dynamical and non-dialectical. This is an important principle that systems are necessarily in motion too, always in a state of change and process. Wu Jie quotes Engels's 'Dialectics of Nature' in this regard: 'The whole of nature accessible to us forms a system, an interconnected totality of bodies... These bodies are interconnected, that is to say, they react on one another; it is precisely this mutual reaction that constitutes motion.' (1996: 49) Thus he can assert that all natural and social systems, the whole material world exists in motion. Development or transformation of a system relies on process, and so process can be seen in dialectical relation to motion to Wu Jie. Here again, he is relying on Engels: 'Processes of thought are similar to those of nature and history, and vice versa; and similar laws apply to all these processes' (1996: 51). Hence dialectical materialist philosophy is necessary for the understanding of the transformation of systems, but it requires an upgrade from 'material object-centered theory' to 'contradiction-centered theory' to system-centred theory' (1996: 51-2). 

Clearly this is no simple matter as systems express self-organisation and nonlinear interactions. These are forces of differences to Wu Jie that operate inside and outside the whole system as an emergent behaviour. These processes exhibit properties of order and disorder. Wu Jie explains these interactions in the following terms:
'The birth of a system is a negation of nature disorder. The orderly system again contains disorderly factors, and the development of an orderly system with disorderly factors again leads the system into disorder, thereby a new orderly system is produced. [...] Without orderliness, there would be no processes, without the nature of disorder, there would be no development of processes. [...] The rule is that order conquers disorder, and disorder negates order, thus reaching a new orderly process. [...] The motional process of the whole world of systems is exactly the dialectical unity of order and disorder.' (1996: 53-4) Accordingly, Wu Jie asserts that the multistage nature of this process is relative, but its continuity is absolute. History is a good example. Society continues to develop in this way as a process and in terms of historical development. Classical Marxist philosophy would go further and assert that truth is a process following these laws. Wu Jie quotes Lenin: 'Truth is a process. From subjective idea, man advances toward objective truth through "practice" (and technique)' (1996: 57). Truth, along with value, can be understood as a process through practice, for 'truth and value are important contents of epistemology and are powerful weapons with which to understand and change the world' (Wu Jie, 1996: 328). 

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'The dialectical method requires us to regard society as a living organism in its functions and development.' (Lenin, in Wu Jie, 1996: 231)  
In systems dialectics, the central law is the 'synergism of differences' (Wu Jie, 1996: 69) and it is only in this way, through the synergism of differences and contradiction, that transformation can take place. Whereas materialist dialectics takes the world to be a unity of infinitely interconnected and interacting things, systems dialectics adds that this based on the systemic self-organisation of differences. The principle of 'synergism', from the physicist Haken, is used to account for the laws that produce a stable ordered structure in an unbalanced open system (Wu Jie, 1996: 134).    

In general (Aristotlean) terms, the system can be said to be whole and is more than the sum of its interconnecting parts. Wu Jie quotes Hegel on this principle - 'a severed hand is no longer a hand' - to emphasise that a part is only a part in terms of its overall relation to the larger whole system, organic system in this case (1996: 77). This applies to matter, but also in the case of energy and information. The interactions are also expressed inside and outside the system in relation to environment, towards the optimisation of the whole system. Wu Jie explains:
'So when the system is under self-organization, self-reproduction and self-catalysis, and is receiving feedback and exchanging mass, energy and information with its environment it may move and develop toward decreasing entropy and increasing order. In the end, it will gradually arrive at the optimum state of the whole system. This is what Hegel and Aristotle meant when they talked about "thesis, antithesis and synthesis" and "movement of the whole." In Hegel's view, the third category, synthesis, is the truth of the two former categories.' (1996: 81)
As old unities are replaced, new ones are generated. 

Systems are predicated on the dialectical relationship between structure and function. Darwinian evolution can be seen in this way as the natural replacement of unstable elements in the system, and therefore as the optimisation of the system of nature. The development of human societies works in this way too, but is distinguished by the added element of subjective critical reflection in the optimisation process. The transformation of hierarchies, stressed by Bertalanffy in his General Theory of Systems, is brought about by either 'natural transformation' or 'dynamic transformation' in the case of the social realm. The law of optimisation, according to Wu Jie, is characterised by the self-perfecting process of negation of negation, part of the movement form disorder towards order and improved organisation, but in 'disequilibrium' laying open the nature of hierarchy and diversity. He explains:
'This upgrades the law of negation of negation to the domain of the disordered - ordered - newly disordered - newly ordered, which is a more extensive and penetrating domain than the former.' (1996: 88) This is a quantitative shift but also a qualitative change of the system and method for understanding that system. As Engels puts it in Dialectics of Nature: 'The indestructibility of motion cannot be conceived merely quantitively; it must also be achieved qualitatively' (in Wu Jie, 1996: 109)

There are a series of dialectical relationships that characterise the material world, such as between structure, fluctuation and function; attraction, energy and repulsion; control, information, and feedback; state, process and change; subject, practice and object. Wu Jie refers to these as 'category chains,' principles of methodology with which to understand the systems material world. For instance, fluctuations in phenomena lend scientific insights into quantitative and qualitative change. Sudden and gradual changes occur and affect equilibrium of the system, partly explaining the shift to what Wu Jie calls 'synergetic equilibrium' where 'the whole system comes into a stable state in the ordered structure' (1996: 172). Here he is drawing upon Prigogine's theory of dissipative structure, and explains this is more common in systems that are complicated and express 'advanced motion forms'. In dialectical terms, systems express a cyclical development of equilibrium to disequilibrium to new equilibrium.

Order-disorder:

Of particular relevance to this (my) study is the relationship between order, the degree of orderliness and disorder. Wu Jie explains that the category of order indicates the order property of structure and the order property of motion. Accordingly, 'disorder means that the structure of a material system and the structure of a motion state are not fixed or regular' (1996: 186). No system can be in absolute order or disorder and inevitably expresses permutations, fluctuations, disturbances and noise. Clearly they are relative states, transformative and can even interchange (Wu Jie's example is that disordered light can change into a laser, 1996: 188). Order and disorder are intimately connected: 'There are a large number of examples of disorder developing into order in the production system in which human beings participate.' (Wu Jie, 1996: 189) There can be symmetry here expressed in order and disorder, with chaos expressing the highest state of disorderly symmetry, and transformation takes place when the symmetry is broken. Clearly this is Wu Jie's interest, in how an understanding of the dialectical relationship of order and disorder can help in social transformation: 
'The history of the development of both the natural world and human society is the history of evolution and development from order to disorder and from disorder to order. [...] Coming into being and developing is a process from disorder to order. Dying out and declining is a process from order to disorder. [...] But the two kinds of processes cannot be separated. At the same time, in the same subject, there are both growing and developing factors and dying factors. The two kinds of factors, as two sides of discrepancy, contradict each other, change into each other and coordinate with each other.' (1996: 190-1)      
Through scientific understanding, this verifies Marx and Engels's instinctive rejection of entropy.

Feedback:

Systems dialectics clearly is an attempt to theorise Marxist thinking in the light of technological and scientific advances at this point in time (undeniably there is a consistency here). Wu Jie recognises this shift from industrialism to 'information society' and sees an understanding of feedback as central to this (1996: 200). I have discussed this elsewhere in detail, but for Wu Jie, systems express a dialectical relation of control and feedback where the objective world is seen to be universally connected through information. The importance of this lies in the recognition of the relationship between action and counteraction in the development of systems: 'For any relatively independent system, the analysis of the dialectical relationship of its special control and feedback can reveal, in one respect, its dynamic structure and property, and reveal its causality and laws, so that it is possible to reform it and utilize it for a given purpose, according to its properties and laws.' (1996: 208)

Labour:

In applying systems dialectics directly to human society, labour becomes crucial to an understanding of historical development. Classical Marxism would maintain that the production of material goods is fundamental to human society. The relations of production constitute the base from which the superstructure is derived at any point in human history. All social relationships for Marx lie in social production and relationships between people in production. These ideas are predicated on the understanding that there is a dialectical relationship between nature and human society integrated through labour. Human production emerges from nature, utilises it, and abuses it. For ecological equilibrium, human society and nature exchange matter, energy and information according to Wu Jie (1996: 216). The requirement to make a new equilibrium is self-evident from environmental pollution and over-production. This is achieved through labour according to 'historical systems dialectics': 'the answer lies in the motive force system of social development, that is, the product og propulsion by labor force, productive force and social development force' (1996: 217). His argument is that modern technology and scientific developments invigorate the labour force, productive force and hence social development force. Human society is one system and its essential elements are people working individually and collectively. The individual, the collective and society operate dialectically. Ultimately it is people who make history.