Pragmatic ontology—Enhancing the philosophical foundation of critical systems thinking/practice

Zhichang Zhu

Systems Research and Behavioral Science, 2025, vol. 42, issue 1, 83-97

Abstract: A sound theoretical foundation for multimethodology should be consistent across the main branches of philosophy: ontological heterogeneity, epistemological plurality and methodological multiplicity. In this light, I posit that (1) Jackson's recent embracement of pragmatism lacks a critical element, a well‐formulated ontology; (2) to overcome this shortcoming, it is necessary to bring ontology back into critical systems thinking/practice; and (3) such an urgent task has further to overcome the current indifference in systems thinking toward ontology. I shall draw intellectual insights from Quine's ‘ontological commitment’, Habermas's ‘ontological presupposition’, Xu Changfu's ‘theory of heterogeneity’, Husserl's ‘ontology layers’, Gadamer's hermeneutic notions ‘prejudice’ and ‘tradition’, as well as ‘ontology building’ practice across the natural and social sciences. I shall also use a multimethodology approach, wuli–shili–renli (WSR), as an example to illustrate the working and evolving of pragmatic ontology.

Date: 2025
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