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| 乌杰文库——《系统辩证论》 |
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Chapter Two THE SYSTEMS DIALECTICAL ATTRIBUTES OF THE MATERIAL WORLD The origin of tire world is an unavoidable question that any philosophy will have to deal with first. In the book Ludwig Feuerbach and the End of Classical German Philosophy, Engels clearly stated: "The basic issue of all philosophy, especially modern philosophy, is that concerning the relation between thinking and being" (Marx and Engels, Selected Works, Vol. 4, p. 219). Different opinions on and different answers to these questions will certainly give birth to different philosophical schools. Every kind of philosophy bases itself on the premise of a definite answer to this question. Or it can be said that a philosophical theory is just a development and crystallization of the answer. Therefore, the formation of every philosophical theory must start from this question and provide its own explanation. Systems dialectics, as a new form of philosophy, is no exception. Systems dialectics, based on the Marxist materialist theory and the latest achievements of modern natural and social sciences, by probing into and thinking about the materiality of the world, offers its own basic theory about the world: The world is made of matter, and the basic form of existence of the material world is its dialectical systematicness, nature of process and nature of time and space, i.e., the concept of system, of process, of time and space. The concept of system considers that system is the basic form, and an inherent attribute of existence of the material world, that is, nature is a system, and so is human society, and man's thinking, in short, the noumenon of the world is the systematic material world. The concept of systems analyses the systematicness of the world mainly from the synchronic point of view. In this way, it reveals the systems relations, systems existence, systems motion, and systems development of the material world. The conception of process refers to the systematicness of the historical development of the systematic material world, systematicness in evolution as well as the systematicness with the developing tendency. The natural world, society or thinking all have their own historical process of development of past, present and future; and this process is the process of development of the system, namely, the development of systematic process. The concept of system brings light to the systematic relations process and state of motion and development of the systematic material world from a diachronic angle. The concept of time and space explains the present existing state, relations and development of the systematic material world and also explains that the historical process of development of the systematic material world is just progress in the course of time and space. The nature of one-dimensional time and multi-dimensional space is one of system. The systematicness of time and space characterizes the systematicness and the nature of process of the material world. The three concepts--of system, of process, and of time and space--belong to an inseparable unity, of which the concept of system possesses the position of dominance and leadership in the organic relationship among the three. Section One THE CONCEPT OF SYSTEMS I. The World Is Material All materialists believe that the world is made of matter. Lenin wrote: "The fundamental prerequisite of materialism is to admit the outside world, to admit that matter exists outside, independent of our will" (V. I. Lenin, Selected Works, Vol. 2, p.79). Materalism admits that the world is a unified material world. Although there are immense varieties of things and phenomena in the world, they are merely different forms of matter. Even consciousness or mind belongs to the category of complex, high-quality matter organized in a special way. This is the attribute of the human brain, the result of highly developed matter. There is nothing in the world but matter. The world is an interrelating and exchangeable material whole. Its unity lies in its materiality. The philosophic point of view of dialectical materialism corresponds to the practical experience of human beings. In the practice of understanding and changing the world, men experience the objective entity of the external world: Workers work with machines in factories; farmers plant seeds, and work in fields. In socialist revolution and construction, and in the present reform of political and economic systems, there must be mutual relations between various people, things and systems. The materialist point of view of dialectical materialism systematizes and theorizes that simple truth on the basis of man's practical experience. As Engels stated: "The real unity of the world lies in its materiality, and this is proved not by a few juggled phrases, but by a long and wearisome development of philosophy and natural science" (Marx and Engels, Selected Works, Vol. 3, p. 83). The fundamental principles of dialectical materialism about the material unity of the world are not only deeply rooted in the practical experience of mankind, but also being proved by the progress of science. For a long time in the past theological idealism, taking advantage of people's lack of scientific knowledge of the celestial bodies, declared that there were two worlds: "the upper world" and "the lower world." It believed that the Kingdom of Heaven dominated man's world, and denied the material unity of the world. Modern science has long proved that matter cannot be produced out of nothing and will not die away by itself. It can only change from one mode of motion into another. The motion of matter in the cosmos does not perish in either quality or quantity. All material things have their own natural causes of birth, growth and death. Therefore they don't need any help from a "creator from the other world." Achievements in astronomy show that the earth is not the center of the universe, but an ordinary planet that revolves round the sun. The whole solar system is in motion according to the natural law. Theology's explanation of the opposites of the two worlds, heaven and earth, is utterly groundless. Furthermore, the science of the structure of matter also discovered that so far, celestial bodies that can be observed are also formed of the same elements that constitute the earth. There are no differences between the particles created by the high-energy accelerator and the elementary particles of a remote celestial body which are brought to the earth by cosmic rays. This is the formation of macrocosm. Microcosms are no exception, either. The structure of the atom is so complex that it not only contains a series of elementary particles, but also has "field." Both elementary particles and field are material things. Even life, this mysterious and complicated phenomenon, can now be explained scientifically: It turns out to be the mode of existence of the proteinoplast; the process of life is the process of metabolism of proteinoplasts under given natural conditions. And proteinoplasts are made of the same chemical elements as those making up the inorganic substances; the only difference is that the former chemical elements have high atomic weights and their structures are rather complex. Therefore, although things with life differ from nonliving matter, they are still a unity; and the basis of unity is matter. Human society is another aspect of the material world, and a result of the long-time development of the material world. The labor of producing material goods turned the anthropoid into an ape-man, from whom man evolved; at last human society was formed. The history of the development of human society is, in the final analysis, the history of the development of material production. In the process of production in society the production relations that people have entered into are kinds of material relations independent of man's will. Their materiality is that what each generation of people faces, when starting productive activities, are relations of production that could not be chosen at will according to one's own subjective desire. The development and change of production relations and the transition of one sort of production relations into another do not depend on anyone's subjective will, but are decided by the levels of growth and demands of the productive forces. Even the existence and development of human society are nothing more than a special form of existence and motion of matter. II. The Material World Exists in Systems The materiality of the world and the unity of matter are scientific generalizations of the world in essence. Yet, the explanation of the noumenon of the world should not be confined to answering what; we should also answer why; we should understand the general picture of the world and at the same time explain the details of it as well. While holding the belief that the world is made of matter, we have to continuously summarize the scientific achievements of the day, and explain the form of its existence. Basing itself on the standpoint that the world is material, systems dialectics has raised the category of "system" to the category of philosophy through scientific summarization, and considers it the basic form of existence and attributes in the material world. (i) Matter and System Are Inseparable and Closely Interrelated All matter is a system and develops and exists in the form of a system. Matter without system does not exist. The things and phenomena around us always take the forms of a system; only the forms are different. Man himself is a system. He is a complicated whole made up of the digestive, respiratory, circulation and nervous systems. The national economy is an organic whole constituted of material productive and non-material productive departments, which are systems made of many essential elements interlaced with each other, in a word, so long as we observe the world from a materialist point of view we will find that no matter exists without the form of system within the reach of our observation. Matter is in the form of system, and system is an aggregate composed of some connected essential elements. System has no meaning without matter. Matter and system are identical. Thinking has its systematicness, which, however, can not exist without the systematicness of the physiological brain; it is a reflection of the material systematicness in man's brain. (ii) System Is an Objective and Universal Existence Systems are omnipresent: there are no places where systems do not exist in the macrocosm or in microcosms, in the natural world or in human society or in the sphere of thinking. All natural things belong in systems. The systematicness between living and non-living things has been fully proved by modern sciences. Green plants, animals, microorganisms, non-living things and their environment form the ecosystem, they are interrelated and interdependent, in continuous recycle of matter, exchange of energy, and transmission of information. There are things among which there is no direct relation, but they also form a system through some intermediary links. For example, cats, mice, wasps, trifoliate grasses and sheep are different kinds of animals and plants, but they form a system of a chain of living things. This was discovered by Darwin more than one hundred years ago. Not only do all things on the earth exist in systems, but it is also true of all things in the firmament. Astronomy has proved that the solar system is a large system with a great number of members--nine big planets and thousands of small planets, besides the sun. They are interrelated and restricted one from the other, forming a complicated solar system. Modern astronomy has also proved that the solar system is not a homeless waif in the firmament, it is interrelated with about 100 billion stars of all kinds to form the Milky Way system, which is subordinate to a metagalaxy. And many metagalaxies are interlaced, forming a larger system. From the microcosmic point of view, all microcosmic matter is in systems, too. Matter is the system of molecules which are systems formed by interactive and interrelated atoms and atomic nuclei. An atom is made up of an atomic nucleus and electrons, the nucleons make up an atomic nucleus system, and stratons (quarks) form the system of the nucleon. As for human society, it is a large system including the productive, political and legal systems, the scientific and educational systems, etc. From this the rule emerges that a large system contains subsystems and large systems are interrelated, forming larger ones. In general, the systematicness of the material world is objective, universal and ubiquitous. The world is a systematic and material world. (iii) The Material World is in a Universal Systematic Relationship, and Universal Relations Are an Objective Attribute of All Systems In chemistry, up to the present day more than 70 chemical elements of the sun have been discovered through spectrum analysis, and these chemical elements also exist on the earth. Thus it is concluded that the chemical elements of the sun are related to those of the earth, and they are in a kind of systematic relation and unity, in the past 30 years spectrum analysis of the celestial bodies outside the solar system (such as stars, the Milky Way system, galaxies, metagalaxies, etc.) has shown that the chemical elements of the composition of the celestial bodies are the same as those of the earth. This identity indicates that there are systematic relations among the celestial bodies and a wholeness or unity among them. Carbon dioxide cycles once every 300 years, oxygen every 2,000 years, and the cycle of water takes 200 years. This shows that some substances and elements on the earth have systems of cycles. The relations are systematic and they belong in a systematic whole. Modern mathematics has split up into about a hundred branches which seem to have nothing to do with each other but actually have internal relations. The unity of mathematics is the intrinsic properties of itself. Fundamentals of Mathematics, published in this century, coauthored by Russell and Whitehead, and the work of the Birkbeck school tried to unify modern pure mathematics. Both made some achievements. In physics, Einstein advanced in 1916 the theory of relativity, which unifies time, space, motion and the mass of objects. That was the second leap in physics following the classical mechanics of Newton. Since the 1930s the study of unifying the four basic forces in the natural world (universal gravitation, electromagnetic interactive force, the weak interactive force and the strong interactive force) has reaped the first fruits. The unity between mathematics and physics has given an enormous impetus to the process of the unity of the natural sciences and to the course of their becoming an organic whole. The field of biology used to be divided into the non-living world and the living world, as it was considered that the laws of motion for these two worlds were opposite and non-uniform. They were not considered a unity until the 1960s, when the theory of dissipative structure emerged. Prigogine stated that the process of life and the process of physics have the same natural base, and that is an open system of disequilibrium. Through exchanges of matter, energy and information a self-organizing process from disorder to order occurs, and a new stable orderly structure is generated. Through an analysis of the material basis of life--the chemical elements in protoplasm, the unity of the biological world and non-biological world was proved, as well as the existence of systematic wholeness mentioned above. Nucleic acid is the common structural bond of all living beings (DNA is a double bond and RNA is a single bond), who have the common law of base pairing and who share the common chart of a triplicate body of genetic codes, namely, all species of life have a set of genetic codes so they have the common genetic mechanism of reproducing, recording and translating. This has provided evidence for the internal relations between the motion of living things and the motion of physics and chemistry, also for their unity, systematicness and wholeness. The expression of unity in the world lies in the identity of the different modes of motion. Time, space, matter and motion can not be separated: different motions are interchangeable and interrelated, such as the exchanges and interrelations between a material object and a field, and the exchanges of elementary particles and their internal relations. From this we can see that their relations are a testimony to wholeness and systematicness. The concept of unity is also very important in understanding the interrelationships and interconnections among sciences. Considering the material world in a united material system, scientists can discover the inherent connections among sciences more easily and consciously. These inherent connections in turn indicate the unity of the material world system, and its wholeness and systematicness more accurately. III. The Three Fundamentals of System: ——Matter, Energy and Information——the Core of the Cosmos When "system" is considered as the mode of existence and fundamental attribute of the material world it will provide man with a new perspective on the material world. System has deepened the concept that the material world is universally interconnected. Moreover, it has given a fresh explanation of the fundamental source and formation of universal relationships. Man's idea of the universal relationship of the material world has a history of several thousand years. Yet, a scientific explanation concerning the objective causes of the universal relationship of the material world only emerged after a long and tortuous course, in ancient Greece an explanation appeared in the works of the philosopher Heraclitus. He made a famous remark: "The world, an entity including everything, was created by no god or man, but was, is and will be an eternal living fire, regularly becoming ignited and regularly becoming extinguished...'' (V. I. Lenin, complete works, Vol. 38, p. 395). Lenin set a high value on these words and thought they were "a very good explanation of the principles of dialectical materialism" (V. I. Lenin, Complete Works, Vol. 38, p. 395). Heraclitus adhered to the point that the world is universally interconnected. But he likened the source of the relations to a fire, which obviously entails perception directly through the senses. The proposition that the world is universally interconnected advanced by the ancient thinker of dialectics was right but the explanation of the causes of the relationships lacks strength and force. Because there had not been enough explanation, the world outlook of metaphysics appeared later. As Engels stated: "This conception, correctly as it expresses the general character of the picture of appearances as a whole, does not suffice to explain the details which make up this picture; we cannot disern the whole picture if we do not understand these" (Marx and Engels, Selected Works, Vol. 3, p. 60). This resulted in the negation of the general picture, so metaphysical ideology became the mode of thinking which dominated the world for centuries. With the development of the natural sciences and philosophy, classical German philosophy, especially the philosophy of Hegel, renewed the idea that the world is in a universal relationship. But his explanation of the causes of the universal relationship was not correct. The universal relationship he put forward did not refer to the intrinsic relationship among all things in the objective world; he reasoned that it was an ideology that had been existing somewhere even before the world itself appeared. Thus everything had been placed upside down. Therefore, as for the universal relations of Hegel, "there is much that is botched, artificial, labored, in a word, wrong in point of detail" (Marx and Engels, Selected Works, Vol. 3, p. 64). The negation of the irrationality of Hegelian philosophy was a historical necessity. On the basis of the great achievements in the natural sciences in the 19th century, particularly the three great discoveries, Engels critically assimilated all the rational and excellent achievements of thought in human history, clearly defined this scientific category of the universal relations, established it on the basis of science and gave a correct explanation of it. The material world is universally interconnected and the whole world is a picture interlaced endlessly by kinds of relations and interactions. The interrelations in the interactions among substances. He said, "Natural science confirms what Hegel said, that reciprocal action is the true causa finalis of things" (Marx and Engels, Selected Works, Vol. 3, p.552). This is a succinct summary of Hegel's thought by one of the founders of Marxist philosophy. Lenin gave a brilliant explanation of how the objective world relates to itself through interactions. He pointed out in his Philosophical Notebooks that "mere 'reciprocity' = emptiness so there is a requirement of mediation," (V. I. Lenin, Complete Works, VI. 38, p. 172). And he also said, "If we are to have a true knowledge of an object we must look at and examine all its facets, its connections and 'mediacies'" (Ibid., Vol. 4, p. 453). "Everything is vermittelt = mediated, bound into one, connected by transitions" (Ibid., Vol. 38, p. 103). The thought of Lenin developed and deepened the theory of the universal relationships of Marxism. But the problem is what the intermediary is —or what will be the transformation through this intermediary and how. It should be summed up philosophically and constantly by assimilating scientific achievements. As modern science developed, especially the formation of theories, such as the theory of systems, information theory, cybernetics, the theory of dissipative structure, synergetics, the theory of sudden change, etc., the properties of the universal relations in the world were proved. Also, the fundamental source and form that are related through intermediaries were explained. The concept of system refers to the whole world as an interrelated and systematic sequence of hierarchy. The old idea that the world consists of matter and energy yielded to the new ideas of matter, energy and information. Through relationships, the substances in the world form systems. The reason why all things are relational is that matter, energy and information interact on one another. All systems are formed by the interactions of matter, energy and information. The world is bound in systems, and systematicness is the intrinsic attribute of the world. Therefore, matter, energy and information are not only the three fundamental elements of systems but also of the material world and the cosmos, so we can call them "the core of the cosmos," which, in a narrow sense, means that in the cosmos matter is relatively densely distributed, the energy storage and release are relatively immense, and information forms a large "source," "flow" and "group." In this manner they become the core of the cosmos. In a general sense the core of the cosmos means that all the things in the cosmos are made up of matter, energy and information. This is the basic form of the fundamental elements existing in the cosmic world. So we. call matter, energy and information "the three fundamental elements" of systems. Matter, energy and information are independent of and dependent on one another. From the point of view of its independent character, each of them contains different attributes of systematic matter. Matter reflects the properties of mass of the system; energy shows the function properties of the systematic matter; and information characterizes all the proper-ties of the existing form of the systematic matter. From the viewpoint of its dependent character, all energy is the energy of matter, and information exists on the basis of the existence of matter and energy. Information comes from matter, of which it is one of the major properties. The production of information must have matter as its basis, namely, it stems from its information source substance. This is the material system of hierarchy, and information is just the reflection of the form of that systematic structure. Its content and variety are completely decided by the transformation of the form of structure in a system. Different structures produce different information; if the structure changes, information changes, too. Without matter, information becomes water without a source. Moreover, the motion of information has to take a certain motion of matter and energy as its carrier and motive force. Without the motion of matter there can be no emergence or transmission of information. Information is always transmitted by energy, and matter is the carrier. Conversely, the motion of matter and ex-change of energy invariably take information as their content. The cycle of the four seasons sends out information about the changes in the atmosphere. The motion of a free-falling body indicates the existence of universal gravity. The idea that there can be only the motion of matter and exchange of energy without transmission of information or the idea that the transmission of information can be carried on without matter and energy are not correct. The interrelations between matter and energy are more evident. All matter has energy; matter without energy does not exist. The same applies to the fact that if matter is not present, energy will not exist either. So the unity of the three not only expresses itself in the unity of sources but also in the unity in the process of motion. Matter, energy and information are the three properties of a system that cannot be separated even for a moment. But they are transformable. The transformation between matter and energy and transformation within energy have been fully proved by modern science. Modern science has also testified that the change of the material information is precisely the characterization or intermediary of the two transformations mentioned above. Such instances can be found everywhere in the natural world. Having lain deep in the geological strata for thousands of years, ancient living things have transformed themselves into natural gas, coal, petroleum, etc., and through this transformation of information (the state of structure) they have transformed the solar energy that they obtained in the past into chemical energy. This is a clear example. Matter, energy and information are the three properties of system, all belonging to the category of matter, i.e., objective reality independent of man's subjective consciousness. If we consider matter and consciousness as the problem on the first level, then systematic matter, energy and information can be regarded as the second-level problem. When we look upon the system as it is made up of matter, energy and information, according to this definition, we reach a unity with the monism of dialectical materialism. This is because the proposition that the world is made of matter and that there is nothing but matter does not affect a detailed analysis of this attribute of the universe. When we look upon the material world in this way the issue of how the material world is universally interconnected can be explained. These relationships lie in the continuous exchange of matter, energy and information among substances. If the structural state of matter changes, the information will also change. If the matter which is used as the information carrier changes, the energy will change with it. The essence of relationships in the whole world has its expression in the process of the exchange of matter, energy and information in systems. The transformation can be both direct and indirect; in either case it is the transformation of matter, energy and information. Direct transformation consists of a system of hierarchy. A system has the same exchange with the matter that is indirectly related with systematic elements, and forms a larger system. As an analogy of this, the whole world shows itself as an intricate systematic network interwoven in length and breadth. The whole material world reflects itself through three aspects: matter, energy and information. IV. The Three Factors of Systems --Element, Structure and Function the Core of Systems A system is not only a method of description: in essence, it is the form of existence of the whole material world itself and its movement. Thus it requires us to unearth the internal attributes of the objective world in order to get a complete comprehension of it. Examining systems from the angle of the cosmos, we know that matter, energy and information make up a system. But when we examine it from the point view of the system itself, on the one hand it is formed by matter, energy and information; on the other, it possesses essential elements, structure, function and other factors which are the basic form and attributes of the existence of a system. The openness of the system determines the exchange of matter, energy and information between the system and its surroundings. Only in the process of exchange can essential elements, structure and function reveal themselves. As a result of the appearance of a certain random sequential quantity in the exchange of matter, energy and information in the system, the exchange between the system and its environment is made, taking on a nonlinear coupling phenomenon, thus causing the three factors in the system——essential element, structure and function——to have different manifestations to some extent, if the essential elements, structure and function in a certain part inside a system are better in matter, energy and information than those in other parts of the same system, the former part can be called the core of the system or the core of unity of that system. Generally speaking, there is only one core in one system. (i) Essential Element System is a generalization of the universal relationships of the whole world. To a system as an organic whole composed of a certain number of interrelated essential elements, the elements are extremely important for an understanding and revelation of the nature of the universal relations of things. In fact, essential elements and systems are a pair of categories in relative existence. Every system is an organism composed of a certain number of interrelated essential elements, so there is no system without elements. For instance, the productive system of an enterprise contains such elements as employees, property and materials. The human body is composed of parts. The reason why we call a system a system is in view of its elements. The reason why elements are so named is because the elements are compared with the system which they form. Elements are the parts in a system, and a system is a whole which contains the elements. Yet the meaning of the relation between the whole and the parts is relative. All elements in systems are not simple beings, rather, they are still potentially divisible. The divisibility of an element makes itself a system. Thus, a thing may be an element in external relationship but a system in internal relationship. So everything is the unity of system and element. A certain thing as an element reflects a thing's external relations or the relationships in the higher level; when it is a system it reflects the thing's internal relations in essence. Therefore, all matter is both elements and systems. The concept of element reflects the material substance itself and its relations, it corresponds to system and characterizes the relative form of matter. Everything is an element in a higher system and a system of lower elements; in this way it forms a hierarchic sequence which develops toward cosmos infinitely. Fromultram icrocosmos--microcosms--macrocosm--cosmos--supercosmos, each is an element in the higher level. Conversely, from supercosmos--cosmos--macrocosm--microcosms--ultramicrocsmos, each is a system of the lower level. Through the relations between elements and systems, the whole material world manifests itself as a hierarchy which has universal differences and universal relations. It must be made clear here that the relativity of a system and elements should not be understood merely as the division and expression of the two opposing extremes in the cosmos, in reality, since the forms of objects are rather complex and varied, it is a necessity that everything must exist simultaneously in different systems that are in different forms of relations. A single person is at once an element in the productive system and an element in the family system even an element in the league and party system, thus determining the diversity of the elements in principle. Owing to this diversity of elements, the division of systematic hierarchy is certainly diversified as well. From this relativity of elements and systems some major conclusions can be drawn: Systems are everywhere and all things are systems; the modes of the relationships of systems are many and varied, and all objects exist in the form of system. We can only acknowledge that something is not in a certain given system, but we cannot say it is not in any system, as everything is contained in the unity of the system nature of essential elements. In short, elements and systems are relative: the two have absolute meaning only in a certain system in which the elements are the parts and the system is the whole. But this absolute nature contains nature relativity, which makes the whole material world manifest a systematic hierarchy. (ii) Structure Structure is the mode of interrelation and interaction of elements, if there are no elements, there will be no unity. If there are no interlinks and interactions between elements, the determinant nature--organic properties--the structural quality will be lost. For this reason, the understanding of the structure of the system has significance. Structure is a unified reflection of interrelationships inside the system. Systematic structure has the following characteristics: (1) Order. Any system has the special state of time and space of its existence. Different states of time and space make up different system structures. Yet generally, every system has its own law to determine its unique state of time and space, and they all have a certain order of time and space, in space it shows regularity, for example order of arrangement of elements, horizontal distribution, system of three-dimensional structure and forms of organization, and so on. (2) Wholeness. The orderliness of structure in space and time causes the interrelations and interactions among the elements inside the structure to Form an organic whole, it deprives all the elements in the system of their properties and functions of existence, just as the parts of a human body existing in the whole does not mean that each of them can exist in isolation. Hydrogen is highly combustible and oxygen helps combustion, but water, composed of H2 and O1 is neither combustible nor helps combustion; on the contrary, it can be used to put out fire. (3) Stability. Any systematic state contains parts that are insusceptible to the external world as well as parts that are easily influenced by outside things and easily changed. The former composes the structure state of the system. The orderliness and the wholeness of a system structure may cause the elements inside the system to interact with each other to create a kind of inertia in order to maintain dynamic equilibrium. This is called manifestation of the stability of a system. Different system structures come from the differences in the quality of the interrelations and interactions. Yet this difference in fact depends on the difference in the exchanges of quality and quantity of matter, energy and information among the elements of a system. Different modes of exchange of matter, energy and information and the quality and quantity of exchange have a decisive influence on the change of the structure of the system. The general theory of relativity of Einstein proves that in the gravitational field the state of time and space of an object is completely determined by the strength of the gravitation of matter, and by the greatness of mass, matter, and distribution of matter. The greater the mass of the matter, the more densely it is distributed, the larger the curvature of time and the slower time will pass. This shows that system structure has a close relationship with mass and energy in elements. The theory of microcosmic material structure has demonstrated that the system structure of matter reflects its specified form in combination. It reflects nuclear energy in nucleons, electrical energy in nucleons and electrons, chemical energy and heat energy in atoms and molecules, and gravitational energy between celestial bodies. The specified combined energy of different structures is corresponding. The amount of the combined energy determines not only the specified structure, i.e., the specified order, but also the stability of structure. (iii) Function The function of a system refers to the characteristics and energy given out when the whole system and its surroundings are interrelated. All systems have their own functions and the functions are multifarious. Specific functions are realized in specified relations formed by specific objects. The same system shows different functions when it relates to different objects, in real life the real function of a system sometimes shows monotony because it loses the chance to establish relations with specific objects, or it has not been comprehended by people yet. Among the three factors of a system——element, structure and function——structure is the crux; element and function show their holistic function precisely by reorganizing and transforming the structure. Structure is the basis of function: it decides the function of a system. A certain kind of structure will produce a certain kind of function, because a system structure is the orderly wholeness of the elements in time and space. Within it exist interlinks and interactions between them, in accordance with certain regulations; they control and coordinate each other. This difference of synergism grants a system as a whole a function different from that of other systems. For instance, if the lattice inside the crystal is different, the function will be different, too. It should be pointed out that, by saying the determination of the function of system by the system structure is conditional and relative, we do not mean a structure can only correspond to one function. System structures are many and varied, thus may appear the phenomenon of isomers with the same function in different systems. The structure of a system decides the functions of the system. The functions of a system are two-fold: internal function and external function. But system functions are not completely inactive and passive things: on the contrary, they have strong reactions to system structure, because structure is the relation of the elements inside a system, and the function reflects the external relations of a system and its surroundings. The world is a huge system with many hierarchies, and a specific system is bound to be subordinated to a larger system. Thus that specific system becomes an element in the larger system, it interrelates and interacts with other elements, and exchanges matter, energy and information with them. The holism of the larger system certainly will control the specified system, for it is now an element in it. In this specific system, the external influences can react to the structure through its functions and change the inner structure. In brief, the structure of a system determines its function, and the functions of the system react to the system structure. The interactions of the structure and function propel the evolution and development of the system. Section Two THE CONCEPT OF PROCESS I. Systems Are in Motion According to systems dialectics, the world is made of matter, the material world exists in systems, and the systematic material world is in motion. The motion of the material world can be summed up as motion of the systems. Motion is the mode of existence of a system. Motion here refers to all the changes and processes that take place in the cosmos, from simple changes of position to qualitative and quantitative changes, etc. Engels said, "The whole of nature accessible to us forms a system, an interconnected totality of bodies... These bodies are interconnected, that is to say, they react on one another; it is precisely this mutual reaction that constitutes motion" (Marx and Engels, Selected Works, Vol. 3, p. 492). Motion as the mode of existence of a system consists of the inseparability of the motion and system. All systems are in unceasing motion and change; no system is motionless. The reason why system is called a system is because the motive nature produced by interrelating and interacting elements which compose the system, i.e., the motion of the transformation and transmission of the matter, energy and information that are going on among elements, and the constant exchanges of matter, energy and information between the wholeness composed by interacting elements and other systems. Without these motions there will be no existence of systems. The earth, together with all macroscopic objects on it, rotates around the earth's axis and revolves around the sun. The microcosmic particles——components of the macroscopic objects——are also in unceasing motion and change. Stars in the solar system make their positional motion at high velocity: at the same time the inner parts of all the stars also keep their motion. Within the organic system of living beings, the motion of metabolism and self-renewal are being made all the time. Human society also evolves and changes constantly; there is no kind of social system structure which is eternal and unchanging; from macroscopic systems to microcosmic systems, from natural systems to social systems, none of them is motionless. Science teaches us that any sort of motional mode has its own bearer of systematic matter. The bearer of mechanical motion is the macroscopic object system. The bearer of electromagnetic motion is the motion of electrons and nucleons, and chemical motion is the systematic motion of atoms and molecules. The biological motion is the motion of biological macromolecule systems such as proteins and nucleic acid. Social motion is the motion of human social systems, and so on. it is evident that there is no abstract motion; motion is always systematic motion. So system and motion are inseparable. A system is the bearer of motion, motion is an inherent attribute of a system and is the mode of existence of that system. The whole material world exists in systems, and all systems are in motion. II. Systems Are Always in the Process of Development Motion keeps a dialectical relationship with process. Motion presupposes process, and process is the expression of motion. A period of the same systematic motion forms a motion ring. The orbit of continuous periodic motion of the motion ring characterises the history of the birth, growth and death of a system, namely, the process. Engels said, "When we say that matter and motion are not created and are indestructible, we are saying that the world exists as an infinite process.., and thereby we have understood all of this process that is to be understood" (Marx and Engels, Selected Works, Vol. 3, p. 557). The development of a system is displayed as a process, as transformation. And both process and transformation are certain systems. On this point, Engels wrote, "The perception that all the processes of nature are systematically connected drives science on to prove this systematic connection throughout, both in general and in particular" (Marx and Engels, Selected Works, Vol. 3, pp. 75-76). He also pointed out: "Real transformations took place in history: the history of the solar system and the history of the globe" (Engels, Dialectics of Nature, p. 277). Modern science proves that in the history of the sun and the earth, the motion of matter has experienced a developing process from elementary to high-level stages, from the simple to the complex. After the solar system took shape, at a certain stage of evolution, chemical motion on the earth began to be one of the major motions. Owing to chemical evolution, organic matter was formed out of inorganic matter, and then proceeded to become living beings to produce the mode of biological motion. This testifies that the motion forms of matter are both varied and unified, and that they are a process of development of the system. Lenin pointed out, "The unity of essentials, of fundamentals, of the substance, is not disturbed but ensured by variety" (V. !. Lenin, Selected Works, Vol. 3, p. 399). The significant theories produced in modern times such as cybernetics, information theory, systems theory, dissipative structure theory, synergetics, the theory of sudden change, etc., are many and varied, in essence they are all theories of the creation of systems, especially of the process of development of systems, and prove that the unity among systems is also a process. People's understanding is a process as well. Engels pointed out, "Processes of thought are similar to those of nature and history, and vice versa; and similar laws apply to all these processes': (Marx and Engels, Selected Works, Vol. 3, p. 564). This is because the process of thinking itself grows up in given conditions, and is itself a natural process. In the past man obtained knowledge of tire materiality of the world from which the philosophy of materialism was formed, and then proceeded to understand the world's dialectical nature. As a result, dialectical materialist philosophy was established, in modern times maws study of system testified that it is an essential attribute of the world's matter. Thus the developing and deepening of man's knowledge is in the course of "material object centered theory" to "contradiction-centered theory" and then to "system-centered theory"; that is, from "the material world" to "the contradictory world" to "the systematic and connected world." This shows that the deepening and development of cognition is a process. Engels pointed out, "All motion in nature can be reduced to this incessant process of transformation from one form into another" (Marx and Engels, Selected Works, Vol. 4, p. 241). Lenin pointed out, "The universal principle of development must be combined, linked, and made to correspond with the universal principle of the unity of the world, nature, motion, matter, etc." (V. 1. Lenin, Philosophical Notebooks, pp. 280-281 ). Because the motion, development and transformation of the systematic material world are not disorderly and unsystematic, but rather follow objective laws and possess universality, repetition and stability, they reflect the inevitable and essential links of things. So the systematic material world is a unity of incessant motion, in essence, the material world is a body of synergism of differences, a large system that is a different- and-synergetic unity of opposites. The principle of the develop- ment of the system and the principle of relations (the principle of unity) are interrelated on the basis of synergism of differences within things. Modes of motion in the natural world develop from the elementary stage to the advanced stage, and by accumulation of motion human society evolves continuously from the ordered, self-organised stage to higher systems in an optimum way. As a whole, the material world is a unified systematic wholeness in which universal relations, universal motion and universal development exist. Therefore the universal relations of a 'system are a process. In brief, all systems in the three large domains--nature, society and thought--evolve as processes. About the problem of motive force which propels the systems to evolve, Engels mentioned in his later years that the motive force of the evolution of the history of human society is the result of the joining of innumerable forces, is synthesized by innumerable interacting forces, and is a general result created from a parallelogram of innumerable forces. The process of the evolution of systems depends on interactions of self-organization and the surrounding elements. Various elements between systems have nonlinear interactions. Systems lose their stability at the critical point, and at the nodal point of transformation from disorder to order the direction of ordering is not one but several; in fact, there are many possibilities. The final result of the competition is decided by the competition of the parameters mentioned above. The result of the competition, generally speaking, is that a certain one of the parameters conquers the others and dominates the system independently. The other parameters either establish new relations of synergism with it and exist as parts in the new system, or the new system is rejected, in a word, the transformational process of a system from order to disorder and from disorder to order again is the process in which the synergism contains competition. Competition destroys synergism to establish a new synergism. The motive forces of the process of systems cannot be simply referred to as contradictions within systems, but it can be said that it is because the forces of difference inside the whole system and forces outside the system join as an emerging force, a motive force of nonlinear motion. III. The Multiplicity of the Motion Process of Systems All systems are dynamic and open systems. The self-organized systems and their surroundings interact on each other and cause systems to display themselves through processes, lhe processes of motion of all systems contain the nature of multiplicity. (i) Properties of Order and Disorder of Process All systematic motional processes are processes of the different motions of order and disorder of systems. The birth of a system is a negation of nature disorder. The orderly system again contains disorderly factors, and the development of an orderly system with disorderly factors again leads the system into disorder, thereby a new orderly system is produced. Order and disorder are interdependent. Without orderliness, there would be no processes, without the nature of disorder, there would be no development of processes. An orderly process as a process of motion of a certain system is bound to bring about a disorderly nature that will cause the system to decline. The rule is that order conquers disorder, and disorder negates order. thus reaching a new orderly process. Generally speaking, during the period when a process is born and goes through its period of development it takes the orderly state as its principal aspect and disorder as a minor aspect; the system is then controlled by the orderly process. During the period when the process is dying order is reduced to a nonprincipal aspect and disorder becomes the principal one, and the system finds itself again ill disorder. The motional process of the whole world of systems is exactly the dialectical unity of order and disorder. (ii) Multistage Nature and Continuity of Process The multistage uature of a process is relative, but its continuity is absolute. The fundamental difference between the systematic developmental process and the intrinsic quality of the process which is determined by the fundamental difference will not wither away until the end of the process; but the conditions in the long course of tile development of the systems differ from stage to stage. This is because the quality of the fundamental difference of the process of the development of the systems and the intrinsic quality of the process remain unchanged. The fundamental difference at different stages of development of the process intensifies gradually. Among the various differences, big and small, which are determined and influenced by the fundamental differences, some intensify, and some are temporarily or partly solved. It is possible that they reach synergism, harmony or adaptation with others which are coming into existence, in this way the process shows its multistage nature. Judging from this, the relation between process and stages is the relation between the whole and the parts, the wholeness and its sections, as well as the relation between basic qualitative change and partial qualitative change. Here the multistage nature and the continuity of the process are only as they are in the light of one process, so the relation of continuity and multistage nature of a process shows the relation from quantitative change to a partial qualitative change. In general, any process is a process which begins from a quantitative change to a partial qualitative change, then to the essential qualitative change. Therefore, all processes without exception display duality of continuity and multistage nature. (iii) Permanence and Variability of Process Systems exist in processes. The permanence of a process refers to the determinativeness of the intrinsic quality of the process. It contains the difference between this process and others, which is the difference between the anterior parts and the posterior parts of a process. Without this permanence the various systems are unable to be distinguished from one another. The variability of a process refers to the negativeness of the process in essence, and contains the transformation from this process to another process. Without this variability there would be no transformation of process. The permanence of processes is a relative and conditional existence. Variability is a negation of permanence and the intrinsic quality of a process. Therefore it is an unconditional existence. Systems existing in processes are definite things which possess the nature of stability and permanence. But if we do not develop our conclusions on the perceptual impressions but continue pondering we will find that systems can only exist in transformation, and vice versa. So a process is the unity of permanence and variability. As Comrade Mao Zedong said, "The former process reached its end and the new one has come into being. The new process including new contradictions starts its history of development." Here the development history of contradictions refers to tile process of tire development of systems. IV. History Is the Process of Systems Process, from the point of view of system, refers to a system state or transformation of sequences of time and space of systems, an aggregate of different processes and stages in succession that system has presented, the relations between the systems in succession, the extension of systematic motion in time, and the constant development of system with the lapse oftime. In fact, this means that systems always come into existence as history; they have their history of birth, growth and death. History is a process, and vice versa. All systems are processes, and they are history as well. On natural process, Engels expounded, "Modern materialism embraces the more recent discoveries of natural science, according to which nature also has its history in time, the celestial bodies, like the organic species, under favorable conditions, being born and perishing" (Marx and Engels, Selected Works, Vol. 3, p. 65). The sun cannot exist perpetually. It has a history of its birth, growth and death. Microcosmic living things also have their history. The difference is only in the length of duration of process and history, or in the concrete historical difference. According to archaeological discoveries, the process of human history began between three million and five million years ago; the earth which has given birth to human life and allows it to evolve has a history of between some 4.5 billion years and 6 billion years. Human life is a beautiful flower which the earth has cultivated, and that process has lasted several billion years. A person's life is merely about a hundred years. And the life of an elementary particle is only 10-10--10-8 seconds. Many particles in the resonance state only have an average life-span of 10-23 seconds. Everything in the natural world is a process and a history. About social process, Engels pointed out, "Modern materialism sees in history the process of the evolution of man, its task being to discover the laws of motion thereof" (Marx and Engels, Selected Works, Vol. 3, p. 64). Society continues evolving and changing. It is a process, so it is history. A history of processes includes the development of society: primitive society --slave society--feudal society--capitalist society--socialist society-and communist society. As for the process of thinking, Engels explained, "In every epoch, and therefore also in ours, theoretical thought is a historical product, which at different times assumes very different forms and, therewith, very different contents, lhe science of thought is therefore, like every other, a historical science, the science of the historical development of human thought" (Marx and Engels, Vol. 3, p. 465). To sum up, all kinds of processes are history. System is process, and so it is history as well. V. Truth Is the Process of Systems Marxist philosophy upholds dialectical materialism as its outlook on truth. It affirms the theory of objective truth and emphasizes the theory of truth process, that is, as man's understanding of the objective world, objective truth is a dynamic process. As Lenin inferred, "Truth is a process. From subjective idea, man advances toward objective truth through 'practice' (and technique)" (V. 1. Lenin, Complete Works, Vol. 38, p. 215). "The coincidence of thought with the object is a process" (Ibid., p. 208). Truth is the identity of thought and object, so understanding or explaining the process of truth will involve at least three aspects: the objective basis of truth, the ability of the subject for cognition and thinking, and the interactions between subject and object, namely, practice. Truth is man's cognition, but as knowledge of truth it takes objectiveness as its base and is a correct reflection of the objective system. The objective basis of truth is the objective material world. There can be no knowledge of the objective system without the existence of an objective system, and of course there would be nothing that we could call truth. Since the source of truth comes from the objective material systems world, the observation and study of the attributes of truth must be first established on the real base--observation and study of the objective material systems world on which truth relies for its birth. As has been mentioned above, the objective world is universally interconnected. It is systematic, transformable and evolutionary, and it always exists in the form of process. It is the unity of order and disorder, and is the process of unity of infinitude and finitude. Since the objective world exists in systems and in processes of transforming and evolving, and since there has never been an ultimate form that is immutable, truth also cannot be achieved in any single time; it must be a process. It can only be comprehended little by little, part by part, aspect by aspect, understanding the infinitude in finitude. Yet, finitude is not infinitude after all, and infinitude is not simply adding finitudes together mechanically. This difference on the one hand prevents truth being completed at a single time, and makes it necessary to experience a process. On the other hand, it is the motive force of cognition which gives impetus to the development of process, in conclusion, the systematicness and the nature of process of the material world as the objective basis of truth determines that as a correct reflection of the objective world, truth can only be an eternal, historical and developing process. Naturally, truth is process. But it is not enough to explain this simply by the properties of the process of the object of cognition; rather, it is necessary to observe and study the cognitive ability of the people who are the cognitive subject, to see whether it has any possibility of reflecting the inherent laws of the objective world. There are differences of finitude and infinitude, of supremacy and non-supremacy in man's cognitive ability which is a unity of the differences of infinitude and finitude, supremacy and non-supremacy. The supremacy and infinitude of man's cognitive capacity show themselves in the following aspects: that sensation is the image of the external world, that kinds of sensations may complement each other, and that the extension of the sense organs is unlimited. Man can engage in thinking, by which he can obtain knowledge of internal relationships, essences and laws within systems. Man's cognition can be a sequence from generation to generation. The infinitude of man's cognitive ability lets us know that it can cause our cognition to reach the level of objective truth. However, man's cognitive ability is limited and is not supreme. Its expression and sensation are limited by physiological structure; the cognitive ability can only reflect the objective world approximately and relatively. The abstract thought of each generation can only reflect the essence of objective systems at a ceratin level; moreover it is never certain whether it is scientific and correct. In each generation people live under given conditions and are invariably restricted by subjective and objective conditions; naturally there are limits to their cognition. The cognitive ability of human beings is a unity of difference of being limited and unlimited. As Engels said, "Man's thinking is just as su- preme as it is non-supreme, it is supreme and unlimited in its disposition, its vocation, its possibilities and its historically ultimate goal; it is non-supreme and limited in its individual realisation and in reality at any particular moment" (Marx and Engels, Selected Works, Vol. 3, p. 126). Just because our cognitive ability contains internal differences, our cognition and subjectivity will certainly conform to objectivity, that is making truth become a dynamic process. On the one hand, we can reflect the true facets of objective systems correctly. On the other, we can not immediately reflect them completely and correctly, but for the possibility and ultimate goal we must comprehend and reflect objectivity correctly. People cannot rest on achievements that have been attained. Thus our cognition will always be in a dynamic, developing process, thereby turning truth into a perpetual process. Finally, to explain that truth is a process, it is necessary to observe and study the basic cause, namely, the practicality From which cognition comes. Man's understanding of objective mat- ter is realized through practice. So practice is the major cause of the birth of truth. One of the major reasons that truth is a process is also determined by the Fact that practice is a process, too. Section Three THE CONCEPTS OF TIME AND SPACE The systematic material world exists in interrelationships which are like crisscross networks. Interrelating universality is a form of the existence of the whole systematic material world. Relationships can generally be divided into two aspects: one is synchronic relations, which refer to the space relationship of the systematic material world in the same period, that is relations between one system and other systems. Space synchronic relations of the objective world form systems. The other is diachronic relations, which refer to the relationship in time of all systems themselves in the same space. Any system has its own past, present and future, and it has variations of itself from the viewpoint of time, that represents a transition from the old to the new, from the simple to the complex, and from the elementary to the advanced. The diachronic relations of the system form processes. Nevertheless, the synchronic and diachronic relations are not two isolated processes; they are closely connected and in a unity. Thus they must be understood synthetically from the perspective of unity of time and space. I. Time and Space Are the Existence Form of System The problem of time and space is an old one into which man keeps probing. In China, the word "universe" just means space and time. Yu refers to space, meaning "the four directions (north, south, east and west), and top and bottom." Zhou refers to time, meaning "from time immemorial." That is to say, space refers to all concrete places and all positions and directions, and the sum of specific properties of space is extensibility; time refers to all concrete times, and the sum of specific properties of time is continuity. Systems cannot exist without space and time. They all have their own given scale, their own certain relationships of position, their forms of arrangement and their state. There is also a specified structure of order between systems. Whether the systems are big or small, the differences of their forms of existence are only in the relativity of space; there is no difference between their spatial essence. Taking space as an existing form is an absolute. System is always in motion, having the manifestation of process, so it cannot be parted from the form of time either. Even though the system of a microcosmic particle's life is extremely short, it will still last a certain period of time. Systems cannot exist outside time since systems cannot be separated from the forms of space. Different systems, as their time existences are displayed, merely differ quantitatively. There are no differences between their essences. As Engels said, "The basic forms of all being are space and time, and being out of time is just as gross an absurdity as being out of space" (Marx and Engels, Selected Works, Vol. 3, p. 91 ). It should be made clear here that when we say system cannot exist outside space and time, it only explains the inseparability of the existence of system and time and space. It does not mean that time and space are certain substances independent of a system. In other words, if time and space are regarded as independent matter, then they are separated from matter, and exist as another kind of independent reality which is different from matter. When we say that time and space are forms of existence of system, we mean that the forms of existence of a system which cannot be independent of time and space should be emphasized, and that the dependence of space and time on system must be illustrated. In reality, systematic matter is the prerequisite for space and time. There is no space and time that is divorced from systematic matter. The space we usually refer to is three-dimensional space, and the time we generally refer to is of one dimension. Essentially, this is nothing more than an extreme generalization of a real object and its process of matter. Every object possesses a fixed space, and has the three quantities of length, width and height; that is the basis of three-dimensional space in logic. The three dimensions of space divorced from substantial matter is unimaginable. The nature of one- dimensional time, namely, its irreversibility, needs to be explained by the development process of the system itself. It is still unimaginable that the properties of one-dimensional time will be divorced from the motion of system. So Engels said that the two forms of existence of matter will be certainly nothing but empty concepts and abstractions existing only in our minds if they are separated from matter. The inseparability of space, time and systematic matter is also determined by the characteristic of time and space which is systematic material motion. According to the special theory of relativity, space and time have different characteristics in the world of ordinary velocity and in the world of velocity of light. If the velocity of object motion is approaching the velocity of light it will slow time down; if it goes beyond the velocity of light, it will reverse the time flow. Under the conditions of the world of ordinary velocity, Newtonian mechanics is the suitable theoretical form that reflects the characteristics of time and space of that world; for the world of the velocity of light, the theoretical form will be Einstein's theory of relativity. The mass distribution of an object decides the curvature of time and space. The general theory of relativity lets us know that the greater the mass of an object and the denser the distribution, the stronger the gravitational field will be, the greater the curvature of space will be, and the slower the corresponding process of time will be. Different space curvatures will create different physical space. Space with a positive curvature is spherical space. Negative curvature can be described with pseudo-spherical surfaces. The space with a zero curvature can be named "flat space." in addition, systematic motion can be used as a scale to measure space and time. The calendar and the chronometer take the motion of system as their basis. In the solar calendar, a revolution around the sun takes a year, and a rotation of the earth is a day. Space is measured in a similar way. The "foot" can be traced back to the measuring of distances in units the size of a human foot. Time and space take systems as their bases, making themselves closely connected and inseparable. Systematic motions are always in motion both in space form and in time form simultaneously. We cannot imagine a space alone without time or time alone without space. System is the unity of time and space. From the above analysis, it can be seen that just as there is an objective existence of time, space is the expression of the objectivity of the existence of a system. The unity of time and space lies in system; time and space are not isolated material substances, but the forms of the existence of systems. II. Absoluteness and Relativity of Time and Space Time and space are the forms of existence of a system. This provides fundamental knowledge for a correct understanding of the characteristics of space and time, i.e., the absoluteness and relativity of space and time. Since space and time are the forms of existence of a system, there are no systems which do not exist in space and no beings which transcend time and space. There- fore, as objectivity exists in a system and in its motion, the existence of time and space is also objective and absolute. Simultaneously, just because systems and their motion take time and space as their forms of existence, this point, too, determines that the concrete shapes and characteristics of time and space are not eternal, nor absolute, but variable and relative. The source of absoluteness and relativity of time and space lies in the unity of relativity and absoluteness of a system and motion itself. Each individual system is relative because it is invariably subordinate to a larger system. For this reason their existing space state and the fluid process of time are also relative. The motion of each system has its relativity, and its perceptible relations of space and relations of time are shown through relativity as well. When a system is transformed into another, system does not perish; and when a kind of motion is trans- formed into another, motion still exists. In the same way the replacement of systems and alternation of motion change the features of space and time in which they exist. Yet, time and space do not perish. For no matter what the systematic state and the mode of motion are like, space and time as still the forms of existence. This is the absoluteness of space and time. Their absoluteness consists in their relativity. The state of systematic motion displays the absoluteness and relativity of time and space. As stated above, the special characteristics of time and space change with the transformation of the motional state of a system. This is what Einstein's theory of relativity has proved. When it is approaching the speed of light, the distance in which the direction of the object moves will be shortened by the increase of velocity. The speed of the hands on the clock on the moving object will slow down with the increasing velocity. This contraction of time and space corresponding to the transformation of the velocity of systematic motion only explains that time and space are relative. In fact, the slowing down of the motional clock and the contraction of the motional length presupposes that the two coordinate systems are in motion, and that the relativity of time and space has been displayed in the comparison of the two systems. That is to say the motional clock slows down when compared with the clock with the same functions in the static coordinate system. The contraction of motion also slows down. Suppose the velocity of motion of the systems are 50%, 90% and 99% of the speed of light, respectively, compared with the static coordinate system. Their lengths will be 86%, 45% and 14% of the static lengths. This is Einstein's simultaneous theory: that the simultaneity of two events occurring in two different places is relative, and in the same coordinate system they are simultaneous but not simultaneous when they are in different coordinate systems. This difference itself shows the relativity of time and space. But as for two coordinate systems that are in relative motion, both have their own time and space; neither takes absolute time and space as its form of existence. The absoluteness and relativity of time and space are two inseparable aspects, which can be called the duality of time and space. III. Infiniteness of Time and Space The problem of whether time and space are finite or infinite has been consistently and endlessly discussed among philosophers. It is indeed a rather difficult problem, For taking practice as the criterion of truth, it is extremely difficult, perhaps even impossible, to prove either the finitude or infunitude of time and space. We used to cite as evidence the fact that man's field of vision of time and space has been gradually widened. But, strictly speaking, this direct deduction of enlargement of finite quantity cannot reach a conclusion of infiniteness, because the latter is not the result of the former in logic. It only clarifies the degree to which man's ability of understanding has been raised, and does not give decisive proof of infiniteness. Even the most outstanding scientist, Einstein, in a letter to a friend in 1917, put forward such a question: "Can time extend for ever? Or has it a finite limitation?" Many people think that though evidence bearing on this problem is constantly emerging, it is hard to reach a conclusion. As a matter of fact, the problem of the infiniteness of time and space itself is not a problem that can be experienced directly; the judgment of it cannot be entirely dependent on practice. It is impossible that there would be a limit and an end to the objective models directly supplied by natural sciences, and to the finite enumeration of varied phenomena. Thus, we have to rely on the power of logic and abstract thought to produce proof of the infiniteness of time and space. That is, to understand infinity not through finite quantity but through finite quality, and not to regard the achievements of the natural sciences as additions to quantity but as the basis of scientific thinking, there is another problem which must be made clear: whether the essence of discussing the problem of the infiniteness of time and space is just probing into the infiniteness of systematic matter. For time and space are not independent things extrinsic to systematic matter, but are the forms of existence of the latter. The objective reality of time and space consists in the fact that systematic matter and its motion are both objective. The infiniteness of time and space must be rooted in the infiniteness of systematic matter and the process of motion. Therefore, demonstrations of the infiniteness of time and space also have to be sought in the system, and in motion itself. Any particular system is the unity of absoluteness and relativity. As a definite entity it is absolute, yet it is invariably subordinate to larger systems, which include an infinitely divisible hierarchy, so it is relative as well. The absoluteness of a system determines that the spatial form of existence of the system is finite; it always expresses itself in a special state of space. However the relativity of it determines the infiniteness of its spatial state. Thus system itself means that space finitude and infinitude are unified, implying the infiniteness of its form of existence, namely, spatial infinity. Moreover, all specific systems continue moving, developing and transforming, and taking the forms of processes. This means that the system is also a unity of finitude and infinitude. System as a kind of being is invariably finite, and the duration that a structural state keeps is always definite. Yet, the system constantly exchanges matter, energy and information with its external surroundings; while affirming itself, this motion creates factors that negate itself and enact the system's qualitative changes. This character of a system displays a nature that breaks the limitations of itself, goes beyond finitude and moves toward infinitude. Being the modes of motion of the system, time and space are inevitably moving toward infinitude from finitude. The infiniteness of time and space is a natural character of the finite system, as it exists in finitude. As a definite being, system is finite, yet its natural character contains the negation of the opposite side, i.e., the factors negating the finitude of itself. Being in negation of itself, it will go beyond the limitation, and is a factor of infinitude, while at the stage in which the negative factors exist in finitude, infinitude and finitude have the potential to unite. But system will evolve and spread out, forming infinitude. At this moment, from the aspect of process, infinitude returns to itself in another system. Then the process begins again. The infiniteness of time and space is rooted in the nature of the system itself, and displays itself by a constant breakthrough of finite objects. It is contained and hidden in finitude and will arise out of finitude. Section Four THE SCIENTIFIC SYSTEM OF SYSTEMS DIALECTICS Systems dialectics is a scientific system which contains a whole series of universal laws and categories; it takes new ideas in the present modern world as its basis, the relationships and development of system as its features and the concept of system and process, and the concept of time and space as its contents. This is a new theoretical system of philosophy, its laws and categories are universally applicable to nature, society and the field of man's thinking. Laws are intrinsic, essential, inexorable and stable relationships in the development of systems themselves. "The concept of law is one of the stages of the cognition by man of unity and connection, of the reciprocal dependence and totality of the world process" (V.I. Lenin, Complete Works, Vol. 38, p. 158). Laws are both the category of systematic relationships and the category of systematic development. Systematic relationships are the relationships in development, and systematic development is the development in relationships. Dialectical unity of a systematic relationship and systematic development are embodied in laws and categories. The laws in the categories of systematic development refer to an inexorable trend of motion, a transformation of things, having a definite order. Laws are always embodied in and run through the practical process of systematic development, and are the expression of intrinsic relationships of the system in development. We are in no position to explain laws without taking into account the development and the transforming processes of system. Systems dialectics has synthesized and developed a whole series of philosophical categories in materialistic dialectics, natural dialectics, social dialectics, and dialectics of thinking (to form its own philosophic category). It composes a new scientific system according to its internal relationships. It reflects and reveals the universal laws of the system through the internal relationships and logical development in a philosophical category. As a theory of universal relationships, development and transformation, systems dialectics is also the dialectical net which marks the development of thinking. Each of the catego- ries is a knot in the net, and the laws formed by the links through the knots and their motion are both laws of objective things and laws of thinking. Therefore, systems dialectics is a general world outlook or general methodology, a theory of knowledge and value, and a new approach to and formation of philosophy. Systems dialectics brings to light the general essence of the relationships of a system and the development of a system in different aspects, as well as the main contents of the concepts of system and process, and the concepts of time and space. It then differentiates them from each other according to the levels and depths they reflect, forming their own laws and categories. Among them, the basic laws of systems dialectics are the laws of optimization of wholeness, of qualitative change in structure, of transformation of hierarchy and of synergism of differences; these four are revealed through the categories of system, elements, structure, function, quality, demarcation, quantity, hierarchy, sequence, difference, synergism, intermediary and so on. These laws bring to light the systematic relationships and systematic development of nature, society and thinking, and proceed from the easy to the difficult. The law of holistic optimization is the most basic law in systems dialectics. It summarizes and develops the law of the negation of the negation of materialistic dialectics, and reveals that it is difference that causes the system to develop from optimization to deterioration, then back to optimization again to repeat itself in endless cycles, thus developing into spirals. By comprehending this law, we may understand the entire process of the motion of the thing itself as well as the development of the thing itself. The law of qualitative change in structure and the law of transformation of hierarchy embrace and develop the law of transformation of quality into quantity and vice versa. They reveal the two most obvious attributes or determinants, structure and hierarchy, which exist in all systems universally, and reveal the fundamental forms or states of motion, transformation and development which also exist in all systems. To understand the condition of relationships and the development of systems, it is necessary to examine these two laws of qualitative change in structure and transformation of hierarchy. The law of synergism of differences is the central law in systems dialectics. It summarizes and develops the law of the unity of opposites in a contradiction. From the changeable and developing basic form to the profound content, it reveals that synergism of differences and the unity of opposites within a system are an essential content of universal relations, and are the major motive forces of transformation and development of the system. These four interrelated basic laws form the foundation of the theoretical systems in systems dialectics. Also, systems dialectics includes a whole series of universal categories, and through the systems relationships and development, it reveals their general laws from all aspects of systematic things. Being a new mode of thinking and new means, the categories in systems dialectics have a great influence on man's cognition and its development. Lenin compared the objective world to the net of complex natural phenomena, while the categories produced on the basis of practice are "minor stages in understanding the world and knots in the web, which assist in recognising and mastering the world" (V. I. Lenin, Vol. 38, p. 90). "Net" and "knots" are two vivid analogies, in the process of understanding the objective net, people condense the achievements of cognition through each of the categories, just like tying knots one after another. In this way it is possible to get the net of a complex variety of phenomena into shape, that is, to reflect the essence of the system. Each category represents one stage in the cognitive processes in succession, and is both the mental crystallization of cognition in the past and the fulcrum on which cognition will further evolve. The deduction of a logical category on the basis of practice and the transition from one category to another indicate progress in the cognitive process of people's understanding of the objective world. The laws and categories in systems dialectics are interrelated, incorporating each other. On the one hand, laws contain categories. From their logical forms, laws are expressed as judgment, and categories as concepts. Judgment would be unattainable without concepts, and laws are unattainable without categories. On the other hand. categories embody laws. Categories and their relationships are disclosed to Ibrm laws. Things such as system and elements, gradual change and sudden change, control and feedback, order and disorder, characterizing and being characterized, etc., are all objective laws of systematic things. Without categories, it is impossible to reveal and express laws; without laws, categories would become isolated, congealed concepts and would be empty abstractions. Systems dialectics takes the law of synergism of differences as its center. It binds the law of holistic optimization, the law of qualitative change in structure and the law of transformation of hierarchy to form the m~oor line of a systematic network. Systems dialectics also ties together all the categories to com- pose a huge integrated network system: a great system of the cosmic world of matter, energy and information, as illustrated by the following table. From this table, we know that: (i) The optimization of wholeness, the qualitative change in structure, the translbrmation of hierarchy and the synergism of differences are all unattainable without information control, because the systematic material world consists of matter, energy and information. Information control moves the system toward a stable orderly structure. This self-organizing process of system for the formation of a stable, orderly structure is the process of purposeful motion of a system. It can also be understood as "the purpose which is controlled by free information feedback." So, for its own purpose, the system, the self-organized process, constantly obtains, processes, deals with and uses inlormation (or entropy) to keep the system in a purposeful state, in some cases it is optimization control. Information has the form of rectilinear input-output and the form of a cyclic input-output and feedback. It also creates a hologram formed by interacting on itself and some other forms. Because of the numerous different forms for transmitting information; information makes systems obtain some definite predetermined nature, or, we can say it causes the action of the system to be restricted by the final state. These four basic laws interact with each other, interrelate with each other and form a stereoscopic network system of nonlinear coupling. This means taking the law of the synergism of differences as the center, together with the law of optimization of wholeness, the law of qualitative change in structure and the law of transformation of hierarchy. They form the base of the system, connecting all of the categories. Through information control the laws are aware of the interactions and interrelations between systems, between elements, thus forming a large system of the cosmic world of matter, energy and information. (ii) The categories of existence of the systematic world, system and process, matter and motion, and time and space are the starting point in logic in this system; system (matter) and process (motion) are inseparably interconnected with time and space. Below them are the four major laws which tie all the categories together into a whole. Below the laws are 15 groups of categories belonging in the five larger categories. All the categories generalize the relationship of the synergism of differences of objective systems. (iii) In the category system of systems dialectics are categories in three fields: nature, society, and thinking. Together they become the basis of the philosophical category of systems dialectics. They proceed in a certain direction, then return to the starting point of the development of the natural world. Yet this "restoration" is not a simple ring, but rather a dialectical circle. The development from nature to society and then to thinking reflects the historical process of the development of the objective world. Through practice man sees cognition as advancing from abstraction to the concrete, logical and historical unities. This causes the cycle and reciprocation of man's cognition to unite, the cycle and reciprocation of the development of nature to generate, and thought and beings to be unified. (iv) In the system mentioned above, the ring indicated by the arrow which is formed in the cyclical development of nature and the ring of the cyclical development of cognition make up "the network category systems of two-way cycles." These two-way cycles correspond to each other, and develop infinitely in the direction indicated by the arrow in the middle. This point is the new summarization and explanation we have added to the laws and the category system of systems dialectics. (v) This table of the laws of systems dialectics and its system of categories shows the hierarchic framework of a fundamental structure of theory. There is still a problem of understanding the concept of core, ring and chain in this theoretical system. There are five "cores": "the core of the cosmos" in the systematic world, "the core of the system" (the core of wholeness) in the concept of system, "the core of structure" in the law of qualitative change in structure, "the core of motive cause" in the law of the synergism of differences, and in the social category the chain of individuality--collectivity--society is "the core of society." The core of the cosmos --the core of the system (the core of wholeness)--the core of structure--the core of motive cause--the core of society com- pose "the organic system of cores." It occupies the leading position and plays a decisive role in various objective things. "Ring" and "chain" are objective beings in the way of binding categories. "Ring" and "chain" are also the development of and complement to the "core," and are internal relationships between the three. We will expound on the concepts mentioned above one by one in the succeeding chapters and sections. As long as 100 years ago, Engels explained, "A system of natural and historical knowledge, embracing everything and final the all time is a contradiction to the fundamental laws of dialectic reasoning. This law, indeed, by no means excludes, but, on the contrary, includes the idea that systematic knowledge of the external universe can make giant strides from age to age" (Marx and Engels, Selected Works, Vol. 3, p. 64). So far, several generations have passed by and mankind has made great pro-& |