Tectology

tectology or tektology (from the Greek "téktōn" meaning builder, craftsman or carpenter) is a term proposed by Aleksandr Bogdánov (1873- 1928), scientist, philosopher, poet, novelist, physicist, economist, among other trades, who was censored by the Russian governments, making him practically disappear from the history of science, but who is currently being recognized as the father of the theory of systems together with Ludwig von Bertalanffy.

His original proposal consisted of unifying all the social, cognitive, biological and physical sciences in addition to considering them as relationship systems; he was looking for the universal organizing principles that underlie any type of system. His work, completed in the early 1920s, anticipated many of the ideas that would later be popularized by Norbert Wiener's work on cybernetics or Ludwig von Bertalanffy on General Systems Theory.

There is a good reference that covers much of his work "Bogdanov and His Work: A Guide to the Published and Unpublished Works of Alexander A. Bogdanov (Malinovsky) 1873-1928".

The first English translation of Bogdanov's Tectology is a must-reference and is due to Peter Dudley and his work at the Center for Systems Studies at the University of Hull in the UK.

As an introduction to the possibilities of Tectology in relation to the study of complex systems, you can consult this paper prepared by John Mikes for the International Conference on Complex Systems in its first edition in 1997, organized by NECSI.