Systems Models Are Not Representations 1 SYSTEMS MODELS ARE NEITHER REPRESENTATIONS OF SYSTEMS “OUT-THERE” IN REALITY, NOR MENTAL CONSTRUCTIONS

The question “what is a system?” has arguably marked a division between different strands within the systems thinking movement. ¿Are systems things in the world that can, for instance, be represented by means of systemic models? ¿Or are they mental constructions, the manifestation of our incapacity to take everything into account, that nevertheless allow us to make sense of our experience and of the world? Each of these options is based on a version of the notion that ideas somehow represent reality, even if only according to a worldview or scheme. But this assumption has brought some conceptual problems in both cases, which can affect systems practice. Using arguments in the philosophy of language, it can be shown that representationalism—or the idea that language represents reality—provides a misleading picture of language. Based on this discussion, a characterisation can be constructed of what we do in language when we talk about systems or use systems ideas, that can be labelled holistic, non-representational, linguistic, and local.