Systemic Everything

Systemic economics, systemic design, systemic security, systemic investing. A wide range of disciplines are becoming interdisciplines by integrating principles of systems thinking into their disciplinary framing. Transitioning to such framing means to acknowledge and navigate everything beyond often narrow disciplinary framings. In mainstream economics for instance this means to engage with the biophysical reality within which all economic activities are embedded in. A systemic perspective addresses this by thinking of everything in its larger context. It also has an ethical dimension that attempts to great positive effects across systems, not just within a narrow focus. Systemification can be considered as the process of reconceptualizing the epistemological foundation of how a discipline sees itself in its larger context. In the beginning of systemification a discipline transitions from an isolated framing to a relational framing by looking at the relationship between the discipline and a system that has not yet been taken into consideration. The conception of social-ecological systems research would fall into this phase. From there, disciplines transition to an entangled framing that attempts to engage with the complex web of relationships within which a discipline operates. This disciplinary framing tries to contribute to holistic progress through its disciplinary possibilities. This is what systemic investing attempts to do by deploying capital with a broader attempt and mindset. The last transition integrates approaches to reflect out of which position, worldview and role disciplines are viewed and shaped. What if more and more disciplines would be framed systemically? How would systemic politics, systemic engineering, systemic architecture, systemic law, systemic education and so on look like?

Feb 12, 2025