The phrase “The whole is greater than the sum of the parts” is well known and important to Systems Scientists and Systems Engineers alike. It’s like a short pithy definition of Emergence. And it is almost always automatically attributed to Aristotle. But what I want to know is this - Did he say it? Why did he say it? And in what context?
The INCOSE International Symposium is an annual gathering of the world leading Systems Engineers. We gather in order to encourage each other within our profession but also to try to learn more about how to make System Engineering even better. While I was mainly there to hawk my SE Scholar business, I did get to see some very interesting talks.
On June 21, 2017, I had the privilege of speaking to the INCOSE Chesapeake Chapter on the topic of Systems Science, Systems Engineering and Systems Thinking — using the catchy title, "Zen and the Art of Systems Thinking." Here I include the slides and references for those who want to explore my talk in more detail.
