Fei Xiaotong's Systems Thinking

Both functionalism of sociology and systematology originated from analogy of organism. In theory of Bertalanffy and functionalist such as A. Comte, H.Spencer, E.Durkeim, R. Brown and Malinowski, we can find the shades of the theory of organism and even borrowing of terms of biology. Functionalism of sociology (or named social system theory) and systems science and philosophy have isoembryo relation on basis and homomorphism relation in form and isomorphic relation in contents. Fei- Xiaotong is one of representatives of functionalism school. According to that, the paper analyses his systems thought tentatively. The academic experience of Fei- Xiaotong begins with 1930s, which experienced each important historic periods. His published papers and writings have been above 5 million words. His systems thought sprouted from his biomedical training and affect from Shirokogorov, the tutor of Qinghua University and formed in his academic activities in 1930s and 1940s. After opening and reforming, his systems thought was elevated through his retrospect. The paper compares at the first time several aspects of the systems thought between Fei- Xiaotong and Bertalanfry and between Fei Xiaotong and Qian Xuesheng respectively. The paper analyses the sight of social system of Fei Xiaotong, which in short, is the emphasis of wholeness, complexity and subject adaptation of social system and stress of functions of subsystem and time and space elements hi social system. According to this, the paper believes that he finds the hierarchies structure of social system and uses the method of hierarchical-evolving to study Chinese society. In aspect of social motion he is the inheritor and developer of equilibrium state theory of social system. The equilibrium state theory and self-organizing theory have the relation of correspondence. The paper analyses the self-organizing mechanism of natural ecosystem, humanistic ecosystem and human cultural system hi Fei Xiaotong's theory based on self-organizing theory. Confronting and integration between city and country, industrial and agricultural civilization is an important part of theory of social changes of Fei Xiaotong, which is the important contend of the complexity of evolution of modernization of Chinese social system. The paper explains the relating theory based on the general theory of the complexity of evolution of social system. Finally, the paper by making used of views of philosophy of science and technology and science sociology, comments on the problem that Fei Xiantong's theory system lacks stress of social function of science and technology and analyses its cause of formation.