The philosophy of modeling and futures research : A guide to different models

The concept of inquiry systems as originally formulated by Churchman is an exceedingly powerful one. Each inquiry system can be construed as an archetypal or generic kind of model structure that applies generally throughout all of the sciences. Recent development in the logic of argumentation and symbolic logic show how, paradoxically enough, the model structure of each inquiry system can itself be modeled in terms of the first-order predicate calculus. The result is a “model of models.” More important and more fundamental still, the effort shows the tremendous assumptions that must be bought if one is to warrant belief in any particular inquiry model.