Frank Hutson Gregory

“ The ideational account of meaning takes us back to the beginnings of Logical Atomism. There is, therefore, a danger that the information systems literature will start to rerun a futile debate that began in the 20s and finished in the 60s. This will not be necessary if due attention is given to the legacy of Wittgenstein. Understood as a language game the SSM iterative debate provides both a firm theoretical foundation and a powerful practical tool for the development of information systems. Computer systems are rule bound and formal. ”

“ ABSTRACT Subjectivist theories of meaning inhibit the use of axiomatic systems in information system design. Wittgenstein held that language and meaning were primarily public and that a private, purely subjective, language was impossible. The iterative debate among stake-holders that takes place in the practice of Soft Systems Methodology (SSM) can be understood as a Wittgensteinian language game in which meaning is created not just discovered. The conceptual models used in SSM can be developed into Logico-linguistic Models which express stipulative definitions. ”

“ Generally it is said that axioms are self evident, but this is just another way of saying that they are accepted without reason. Admittedly some axiomatic systems, such as arithmetic, seem to be very useful whereas others do not. ”

“ Formula 2 states that if all the necessary conditions and one from each of the three sets of SUN conditions from Figure 2 are fulfilled we will have a state of affairs in which papers are grouped into sessions and chairmen for each session are selected. These types of formula can have direct practical application. They can be used as the basis for system control algorithms (Gregory 1991) and a logical account of system efficiency can be expressed as the choice between SUN conditions (Gregory 1992a) . However, the most important application is likely to be in information system design. ”

“ When there is a firmly established consensus, and only then, we can pretend that meanings are independent of people. Many semantic problems cannot be solved until one has established who is responsible for the meanings expressed." (Stamper, 1987)
What Stamper seem to be implying here is that the subject alone determines meaning - that public languages are a sort of Esperanto built up out of private languages.
If we agree with Wittgenstein then it is clear that Stamper has the boot on the wrong foot. Language is public and refers primarily to public events. ”

“ SSM solves this problem pragmatically; as the stake-holders make up their own axioms the question of their acceptability does not arise. However, the question of their usefulness does arise. In Some forms of activity all that seems to be required is a holon or Logico-linguistic framework. For example, we can invent a game. All we need for a new game is a group of players who will agree to a set of rules and abide by them. ”

“ Identity is considered to be a stronger relation than mutual implication. Any case in which identity holds will be a case in which mutual implication will hold, but the reverse is not true, not every case of mutual implication will be a case of identity. ”

“ The models are presented to the stake-holders of organisation who inevitably find them unsatisfactory. The least unsatisfactory model is revised in an iterative debate. The debate ends when the stake-holders reach a consensus that the model is both relevant and desirable. The model either resolves the problem itself or will form a basis for a solution. ”

“ However, the disaster could have been prevented or at least mitigated if we had had a Logico-linguistic Model that corresponded to the way the weather behaves. In some, but not all applications there is this need for models that will map onto the real world. This will include any information system that is concerned, in any way, with predicting any physical events. ”

“ However, while phenomenalism largely disappeared from the the Anglo-American philosophical scene in the 60s and 70s, phenomenology continued to be popular on the continent. The phenomenological tradition also remained active in British sociology. This has now resulted in subjectivist theories of knowledge and meaning being put forward as a theoretical basis for information system design. Advocates of these ideas include ronald Stamper who has done extensive work on the connections between semiotics and computerised information systems.
"Meanings express personal views of reality. ”

“ For example, "Manx cats do not have tails" could be part of the definition of a certain breed of cat, or it could be an empirical statement about the cat population on the Isle of Man. The problem is compounded by using process definitions and extensive definition. People tend to think that a statement about a process is always a statement of contingent fact. Likewise statements that specify all the members of a class are usually factual rather than definitional. People are, therefore, likely to think that they are never definitional. ”

“ Establishing what is definitional The words used to express definitions do not always, or even usually, indicate that what is being expressed is in fact a definition. Looking at a defining statement in isolation we will find that it could just as easily be a statement of fact i.e. ”