Developing Philosophical Foundations of System Dynamics with Buddhist Philosophy

Abstract

This study explores conceptual similarities between System Dynamics and Buddhist philosophy to investigate how the latter can contribute to the development of philosophical foundations of System Dynamics. First, it identifies and reflects on the main concepts underlying the philosophy of System Dynamics. Second, it presents the fundamental concepts of Buddhist philosophy. Third, it analyses how the main concepts of System Dynamics are represented and interpreted in Buddhist philosophy. In doing so, the study grounds itself in the existing findings about conceptual similarities between systems domains and Buddhism and makes a comprehensive up-to-date review of the major publications on the topic. It also presents novel insights not yet discussed in the literature. For example, the discovered consilience of the epistemological stance of System Dynamics and Buddhist philosophy. Finally, the study makes suggestions on how the identified consonant concepts of Buddhist philosophy can be integrated into System Dynamics to improve its theory and modelling practice.