systems approach sharing frame reference similar pre socratic philosophy heraclitus ludwig von bertalanffy traced systems concepts philosophy gw leibniz nicholas cusa 's ''coincidentia oppositorum'' modern systems seem considerably complicated may embed history figures like james joule sadi carnot represent important step introduce ' 'systems approach'' rationalist hard sciences th century also known energy transformation thermodynamics century rudolf clausius josiah gibbs others established ' 'system'' reference model formal scientific object
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