System's Self-knowledge As a Measure of its Adaptive Ability
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The Level of the System's Self-knowledge As a Measure of its Adaptive Ability in the
Light of the Kwiatkowski's System Development Rule
Ryszard Stocki
Wyzsza Szkola Biznesu - National-Louis University
Collage of Psychology
ul. Zielona 27, 33-300 Nowy Sacz, Poland
[email protected]
phone: +48 604097028
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Abstract
Kwiatkowski, a Polish economist, formulated a rule linking economic development of
nations with proportion of population knowledgeable in the economic systems of their
times. In his “Outline of Economic History” he exemplifies functioning of the rule on
the state level all throughout the ages. In the present paper we propose to broaden the
rule to other systems, particularly organizations and propose empirical and information
tools for testing the rule – quantitative analysis of the cognitive maps. We also present
results of preliminary research where relation between development and some formal
measures of the cognitive maps supported our assumptions.
Key words: knowledge density, system development, system literacy
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Introduction
Kwiatkowski's rule
A Polish economist, politician and historian of economic development
Eugeniusz Kwiatkowski (1888-1974) following the thought of
A. R. J. Turgot (Brewer,
1987) formulated the following rule:
the structure of the economic mechanisms is
complex (...). Political and economic development
and progress is a quantitative
function of
understanding of the mechanisms. It is equivalent to the relationship
between the number of people who understand the assumptions, goals and methods,
often distant in their consequences and the number of people who are driven by ad hoc
or thoughtless reflexes in a given society
(Kwiatkowski, 1947, p. 95). Kwiatkowski has
demonstrated the functioning of the law in the entire economic history starting from
Antiquity till present times.
The first example, I would like to quote after Kwiatkowski, is the role played by
Arabian nations in the early Middle Ages, after the decline of Roman Empire. The
techniques of production sciences and arts have flourished in the disciplined state-
religious
organization. Arabs were famous for wide promotion of education and
craftsmanship. Arabic religious fanaticism of that time did not destroy but preserved the
previous achievements of the conquered nations. These were the Arabs who were
behind the development of the cities of Cordoba, Toledo, Granada, Sevilla and Malaga.
Starting from the 11th century the Arab expansion is more and more limited. The
military defeat at Poitiers (A.D. 732) was not the sole reason
for
slow
Arabs'
withdrawal. By conquering larger and larger territories in Europe, the proportion of the
System's Self-knowledge As a Measure of its Adaptive Ability
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knowledgeable to the ignorant diminished as their knowledge of the desert and the see.
